Title: USA Patriot Act of 2001 | The First Amendment Encyclopedia
Headings: USA Patriot Act of 2001 (2001)
USA Patriot Act of 2001 (2001)
By Dale Mineshima-Lowe (Updated July 2019 by Deborah Fisher)
Patriot Act was meant to help deter future terrorist attacks
Patriot Act expanded government authority to conduct secret searches and surveillance
Critics say Patriot Act weakened privacy rights by allowing government access without probable cause
Patriot Act provisions have been questioned on First Amendment grounds

Content: For example, the act provided for the establishment of alternative maximum sentences for acts of terrorism and raised the penalty for conspiracy to perpetrate an act of terrorism against the United States. Critics say Patriot Act weakened privacy rights by allowing government access without probable cause
The Patriot Act has been cloaked in controversy almost since its inception, with parties on both sides of the debate claiming that the measures within the act lean to one extreme or the other. Critics do not agree: either the provisions are not doing enough or they go too far and infringe upon civil liberties and First Amendment rights. Defenders of the First Amendment contend that the Patriot Act has weakened citizens’ rights by allowing government access to confidential information and authorizing so-called “sneak and peak” search warrants without probable cause. Several of the law's surveillance sections expired on December 31, 2005, although these were extended through March 10, 2006. Congress reauthorized the Patriot Act with little reform. On March 9, 2006, a day before the extension was due to expire, President Bush signed it into law. The reauthorized act includes a four-year sunset clause on three specific provisions: the attainment of records (such as library records ), the use of wiretaps to monitor communications, and the secret surveillance of non-U.S. citizens within the country.