ThatsJustWeird: Based on the fact that it targets the civil liberties of Americans, stifles any and all domestic political dissent, religious
freedoms, and labor union activism and promotes the use of racial profiling as federal government policy?
That it makes it harder for citizens and legal aliens alike to review or appeal any perceived government wrongdoing. That it allows for the indefinite
detention of suspected (SUSPECTED, not proven) aliens and domestic "terrorists", without probable cause of a crime, without a hearing and without
any opportunity to defend or challenge the evidence against them, when they have not even been proven to be a threat and have already established a
legal right to remain here.
And also that it allows the use of "secret evidence" and testimony in civil court proceedings.
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It keeps judges out the process and lets cops do what they want (cops meaning FBI, CIA, etc.).
It minimizes judicial supervision of telephone and Internet surveillance by law enforcement authorities in anti-terrorism investigations and in
routine criminal investigations unrelated to terrorism. Unrelated to terrorism—that means anything.
It expands the ability of the government to conduct secret searches—again in anti-terrorism investigations and in routine criminal investigations
unrelated to terrorism.
It gives the Attorney General and the Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations and block any non-citizen
who belongs to them from entering the country. Under this provision the payment of membership dues is a deportable offense. That means, among other
things, that Bush and Ashcroft can decide Greenpeace and Ralph Nader are terrorists, and under this law, it can put them in jail.
It grants the FBI broad access to sensitive medical, financial, mental health, and educational records about individuals without having to show
evidence of a crime and without a court order. It means they can do what they want for no good reason, except to persecute and imprison people.
It could lead to large-scale investigations of American citizens for “intelligence” purposes and use of intelligence authorities to by-pass
probable cause requirements in criminal cases.
It puts the CIA and other intelligence agencies back in the business of spying on Americans by giving the director of Central Intelligence the
authority to identify priority targets for intelligence surveillance in the United States.
It allows searches of highly personal financial records without notice and without judicial review based on a very low standard that does not require
probable cause of a crime or even relevancy to an ongoing terrorism investigation.
It creates a broad new definition of “domestic terrorism” that could sweep in people who engage in acts of political protest and subject them to
wiretapping and enhanced penalties. This means they can jail anyone who disagrees with them, and keep them in jail for life without a trial.
It permits the detention of non-citizens facing deportation based on the Attorney General’s certification that he/she has “reasonable grounds to
believe” the non-citizen endangers national security. While immigration or criminal charges must be filed within seven days, these charges need not
have anything to do with terrorism, but can be minor visa violations of the kind that normally would not result in detention at all. Non-citizens
ordered removed on visa violations could be indefinitely detained if they are stateless, their country of origin refuses to accept them, or they are
granted relief from deportation because they would be tortured if they were returned to their country of origin.
It permits the Attorney General to indefinitely incarcerate or detain non-citizens based on mere suspicion, and to deny re-admission to the United
States of non-citizens (including lawful permanent residents) for engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment.
