Patriot act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Patriot act - Essay Example While supporters of the law claims that the law is meant to aid the investigations and arrests of terrorists, its opponents argue that although the law was meant to improve security in the US, it has bestowed the government with too much power that threatens the civil rights and puts democracy at trial. The first account that faces the controversy of the Act involves they way in which the law was passed. The law was passed very quickly, barely one month after the September 11th terror attack. The deliberation of the provision of the act was done in less than 48 hours. This brings in the issue of whether the law was well discussed and evaluated before being passed by the congress. For any Act to be passed into law there is a need to have a comprehensive review of its impact and implication. The law has to be in line with other laws taking consideration of the possibility of contradicting other laws. For instance, the law gives powers to homeland security in regard to surveillance and search and seizure in its operations. However, this tends to contradict several civil liberties enjoyed in the country and which are guaranteed by the constitution. For instance, although the Patriotic Act allows the law enforcement the power to surveillance, search and seizure, the law seems to undermine the right to privacy. Although the constitution does not spell out on the issue of privacy, many Supreme Court decisions have supported the right to privacy. In addition, the power to invade ones premise to search without notification is seen as violation of people’s right to privacy (Greenwald, 2006). In another dimension, the law has also been viewed as an avenue to achieve other hidden agendas by the law enforcement agencies. For instance, instead of the law enforces invading suspects’ homes just for the search of terrorism activities, the law enforcers can take advantage and use the law to achieve their own personal goals. Additionally, it has been argued that the law