Patriot Acts Committee

BACKGROUND INFORMATION RE: FREEDOM TO READ

HR 1157: Defunding Library Spying: Text; Status of Bill

Amnesty International on the Sanders-Otter-Conyers Amendment: HR 2799

Background

Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which was signed into law on October 26, 2001, severely expands the scope of materials which the FBI can access with a warrant from the government's secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or "FISA" court. Previously the FBI could only obtain records from a limited group of businesses. Now, after showing minimal justification, the FBI has the power to search for any "tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items)" in any location. This broad language has swept-up bookstores and libraries, which traditionally enjoy special First Amendment protections, into this area of government surveillance. Under the Patriot Act the FBI could go after materials such as library circulation records, Internet use records, book purchasing records, floppy disks, data tapes, and computers with hard drives. In addition, this section of the bill prevents a librarian or bookseller, under penalty of law, from informing patrons that the library is under investigation or that a patron's records have been searched. Librarians and booksellers across the country fear that this is causing a "chilling effect" and making users self-censor their reading choices and fear that their reading and research habits will be scrutinized by the federal government. Under section 215 the FBI does not need to show probable cause, nor even reasonable grounds to believe, that the person whose records it seeks is engaged in criminal activity before they are granted a secret warrant. Under section 215 the FBI does not need to have any suspicion that the subject of the investigation is a foreign power or agent of a foreign power before they are granted a secret warrant. The Sanders-Otter-Conyers Amendment would make legal standards and warrant procedures consistent with First Amendment rights and protect libraries and bookstores from intrusive investigations under the USA Patriot Act. Librarians and booksellers want to protect Americans from attacks but at the same time they must protect the right of every citizen to read, learn, and purchase books without undue government interference. This amendment would allow the FBI to follow procedures already in current law to get warrants to retrieve records for terrorist-related or criminal investigations.

More information: Defunding Library Spying--- ACLU of Southern California

Action Recommended:

Alexandra Arriaga, Director of Government Relations for Amnesty International is asking that this action be circulated. Patriot Act is un-Patriotic – Prevent its Implementation Congressman Bernard Sanders (I-VT), along with Congressman C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID) and Congressman John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), are offering an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations bill of 2004. The amendment would protect basic freedoms that are threatened by the hastily passed the USA Patriot Act of 2001. Specifically, the amendment would prohibit the Department of Justice from using any money in their budget to conduct searches of libraries or booksellers using the wide-sweeping powers granted in the Patriot Act. Currently, librarians and bookseller cannot inform patrons that they are under investigation and are required to provide officials with book purchasing records, floppy disks, data tapes, and computers hard drives and other private materials, without even probable cause for suspicion. This amendment could be voted on the floor of the House as early as Tuesday, July 21, 2003, or later this week. To contact your congressional representative in Washington, call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. You may also contact the Representatives home district office. The main points to make during the phone call are: · I urge you to support the Sanders-Otter-Conyers amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations bill of 2004. This amendment would protect basic freedoms that are threatened by the hastily passed the USA Patriot Act of 2001. · The amendment would prevent government agents from conducting "fishing expeditions" into libraries and bookstores. It would make legal standards consistent with First Amendment rights and protect libraries and bookstores from intrusive investigations allowed under the Patriot Act. · Under the Patriot Act the FBI could go after materials such as library circulation records, Internet use records, book purchasing records, floppy disks, data tapes, and computers with hard drives, without needing to show probable cause, nor even reasonable grounds to believe, that the person whose records it seeks is engaged in criminal activity before they are granted a secret warrant. Such power is unchecked, unbalanced, and runs counter to the freedoms the nation is built on. · In addition, the Patriot Act prevents a librarian or bookseller, under penalty of law, from informing patrons that the library is under investigation or that a patron's records have been searched. Librarians and booksellers across the country fear that this is causing a "chilling effect" and making users self-censor their reading choices and fear that their reading and research habits will be scrutinized by the federal government. · Please vote to adopt the Sanders-Otter-Conyers amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations bill of 2004. If you cannot call, please consider emailing or faxing the following letter: Dear Representative: I urge you to support an amendment by Congressman Bernard Sanders (I- VT), along with Congressman C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID) and Congressman John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), which they will offer to the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations bill of 2004. This Sanders-Otter-Conyers amendment would protect basic freedoms that are threatened by the hastily passed the USA Patriot Act of 2001. Under the USA Patriot Act, the FBI could go after materials such as library circulation records, Internet use records, book purchasing records, floppy disks, data tapes, and computers with hard drives. The FBI could conduct these searches without needing to show probable cause, nor even reasonable grounds to believe, that the person whose records it seeks is engaged in criminal activity before they are granted a secret warrant. Such power is unchecked, unbalanced, and runs counter to the freedoms the nation is built on. In addition, the USA Patriot Act prevents a librarian or bookseller, under penalty of law, from informing patrons that the library is under investigation or that a patron's records have been searched. Librarians and booksellers across the country fear that this is causing a "chilling effect" and making users self-censor their reading choices and fear that their reading and research habits will be scrutinized by the federal government. The Sanders-Otter-Conyers amendment would prevent government agents from "fishing expeditions" into libraries and bookstores. It would make legal standards consistent with First Amendment rights and protect libraries and bookstores from intrusive investigations allowed under the Patriot Act. Please vote to adopt the Sanders-Otter-Conyers amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations bill of 2004. Sincerely,

Civil Liberties on Bernie Sanders' Website

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On September 8, 2003, the National Lawyers’ Guild President-elect Michael Avery spoke at a very well attended rally outside Attorney General Ashcroft's Boston appearance. The speech is a great model for those of you who will be speaking publicly, and great reading for everyone else.

Response to John Ashcroft at Faneuil Hall, Sept. 9, 2003
by Michael Avery, President-Elect National Lawyers Guild

John Ashcroft is speaking to invited guests only in Faneuil
Hall. Faneuil Hall - long known as the "Cradle of Liberty", opened its
doors to all comers when American patriots such as Samuel Adams rallied the
citizens of Boston to the cause of independence from Great Britain. What a
cruel irony that John Ashcroft is inside these hallowed halls today
delivering a funeral oration for the Constitution of the United States.

Faneuil Hall is not hosting American revolutionaries today, but is in the
hands of conservative extremists. Radicals of the right, who are making
the boldest attempt to hijack the Bill of Rights since the passage of the Alien
and Sedition Acts in 1798.

Ashcroft is here to defend the USA Patriot Act. He says it is necessary to
sacrifice the political and personal freedoms established long ago by the
voices that still echo in Faneuil Hall, in order to defend our national
security. What has he done so far? He has watered down the protection you
have against the government entering your home to search for evidence of
political ideas that the government thinks are dangerous. He has made it
easier for the FBI to read your emails and listen to your telephone
conversations. How many of you are students? The Patriot Act has modified
the Family and Education Privacy Rights Act so that the government can
demand records from educational institutions without notifying students
that they are doing so, and without your consent. There is increased
surveillance of faculty and students at universities today. Under the
Patriot Act, foreign students from as many as 25 nations are denied access
to certain scientific research laboratories solely on the basis of their
nationality. The government can compel records from libraries to find out
what books you are reading. After the abuses of the sixties and seventies
came to light in the Church Committee hearings in the United States Senate,
Attorney General Levi established guidelines to restrict the FBI from
engaging in investigations of domestic political groups in the absence of
probable cause to believe they are engaged in criminal activity. These
were
important protections adopted because of government abuses. Ashcroft has
thrown those guidelines out. He has also thrown out the privilege of
certain people charged with, but not yet convicted of, crimes to speak to
their attorneys without the government listening in. The government claims
that other people charged with crimes have no right to have attorneys, no
right to be tried by juries, indeed no right to be tried at all - but that
so-called enemy combatants can be held indefinitely in an incommunicado
status with no rights whatsoever. The government, in several different
ways, is engaged in racial profiling of people perceived to be Arabs and Muslims.

The crisis for civil liberties is grave and the attack on the Bill of
Rights is outrageous. We will have an all-day program at Suffolk Law School on
September 20, where we will bring together the leading experts in the
country on these issues, to explore this attack in detail. I have flyers
here with information about the conference, and you can get them from me
after I step down. But the attack on civil liberties is not the worst that
the band of extremists that is running the government is up to. President
Bush's assault on the Constitution does not stop at the Bill of Rights.
He, John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld want to destroy the very essence of our
constitutional system - separation of powers and a government controlled by
checks and balances. Who declared war on Iraq? Not Congress - the
President. Who tries those accused of terrorism? The military. Can the
defendants appeal to the civilian courts? No, not according to Bush and
Ashcroft. Who decides if someone is an enemy combatant? The executive
branch alone - not the courts. And worst of all, the Congress and the
courts - who are so far completely mesmerized by the politics of fear - are
going along with the President's program without meaningful protest or
opposition.

But this isn't just about law and constitutional rights. Two days ago the
President announced that he wanted 87 billion dollars to rebuild Iraq.
This is the largest welfare bill that has ever been proposed. And who is going
on welfare? Some of the biggest corporations in the world - Halliburton
and Bechtel, among others. The President's friends, including Vice-President
Cheney's corporation, are going to make billions, not millions, billions,
from the Iraq war. 87 billion dollars, in addition to the 79 billion
dollars the President obtained six months ago to fight the war. And what
about the people who need welfare in this country? What about students who
need an education? What about health care for uninsured patients, and
medicines for senior citizens unable to afford them? What is the
government doing about them? The tax cut. The tax cut is aimed, as Abbott Gleason
from Brown University has written, at starving the welfare state. Every
state and every local government in this country is hurting now. What
ordinary citizen of this state will not be affected by the budget cuts?
And what does President Bush want to do - give a tax cut to the richest people
in the country - the only ones who could afford to pay more. This is the
President who wants to eliminate overtime pay for working people at the
same time he cuts taxes for their employers.

What is the United States doing internationally? Whatever opportunity
there was for international cooperation with respect to the world's most serious
problems has been cast aside by the Bush administration. The United States
has withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. The United States
will not ratify the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court.
The United States thumbed its nose at the United Nations and refused to put
its invasion of Iraq to a vote in the Security Council. The government of
the United States - the only superpower in the world today - wants to
unilaterally order the world to comply with its interests.

And what of the justification for the war? The weapons of mass
destruction? Where are they? We have been in sole control of that country for months
and not found them. Did the Iraqis employ biological or chemical weapons, or
any so-called weapons of mass destruction against the troops invading their
country? Why not? There were no weapons of mass destruction. This war
was about oil and power - and the hegemony of the United States over the rest
of the world. The President repeatedly lied to the American people to get us
into this war - and he should be impeached for his high crimes in doing so.

Attorney General Ashcroft, President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld - these men
are about expanding the power of America, that is, of their rich friends
and the class to which they belong, on a scale that the world has never seen.
They are exploiting the so-called war on terrorism to expand the power of
corporate interests and to diminish the ability of any group to oppose
them. That is their agenda.

But what is our agenda? Now is the time to say what we stand for. If we
are for social justice, if we are for human rights, if we are for
international cooperation and peace, now is the time for us to stand up and
say so. If we have had enough of the attacks on the foreign born, now is
the time for us to rise to their defense. If we want better education for
our children, better health care and a living wage for every working
person, now is the time to demand it. Ashcroft seeks to exploit the politics of
fear. We must oppose that with all the courage we can muster. Now is the
time to organize. Now is the time to join together. Now is the time for
the people to take back their government.