Title: Patriot Act | Freedom Forum Institute
Headings: Patriot Act
Patriot Act
Legal battles over Patriot Act revisions to FISA

Content: Patriot Act | Freedom Forum Institute
Patriot Act
By David L. Hudson Jr., First Amendment Scholar
Updated September 2012
Since its passage 45 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the USA Patriot Act has been a lightning rod for controversy. It has taken center stage in a vigorous debate over the proper balance between national security and individual liberty. Supporters contend the Patriot Act is responsible for preventing further catastrophes. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in Congress in April 2004 that “the biggest hero to emerge from the hearings before the 9/11 Commission has been the Patriot Act.” In March 2006, President George W. Bush credited the Patriot Act with helping “break up terror cells in Ohio, New York, Oregon and Virginia.” “ We’ve stopped 28 terrorist attacks since 9/11,” said James Carafano, a homeland security expert at the Heritage Foundation, four years later. “ The Patriot Act has been a big part of that.” Detractors counter that the Patriot Act represents a loss of individual liberty and a naked grasp for power by the executive branch of government, particularly over the judicial branch. Robert Levy, senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, has written that the Patriot Act represents “the looming sacrifice of civil liberties at the altar of national security.”