Title: Effects of The Patriot Act
Headings: Effects of The Patriot Act
Effects of The Patriot Act
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Content: The bill for this law was introduced after the Oklahoma City Bombing. The major provision of the act made it illegal to provide “material support” to any organization banned by the State Department. The bill was greatly criticized by Republicans for granting too much power to authorities. The bill had to undergo major modifications before it was passed in 1996. The bill that ended up becoming law was said to be a “watered down version” of the original that President Clinton wanted passed. Strangely enough, it was this act that was broadened and revamped to create the Patriot Act (Creative Commons, n.d.). Since becoming law, the Patriot Act has been highly criticized for being extremely broad and too open for interpretation. In 2004, a judge ruled that parts of the Patriot Act were unconstitutional because they were too vague and in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments. Another criticism of the Patriot Act is that it does not guarantee enough oversight to make sure that those that are given power by the act do not misuse it. On March 9, 2006 President Bush signed the Patriot Act Reauthorization, but attached a signing statement in which he said that he would ignore specific mandates written in the bill that would give more judicial and Congressional oversight to agencies authorized use of the act.