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Defying the Obama administration, the House Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to remove from the USA Patriot Act a tool for tracking non-U.S. citizens in anti-terrorism investigations.
House Judiciary Committee leaders on Tuesday introduced a bill to place new restrictions on government surveillance and seizures in anti-terrorism investigations, while allowing the Obama administration to continue some tactics used by its predecessor.
A divided Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a revised version of the nation's major counterterrorism law, after intelligence and law enforcement officials assured lawmakers that counterterrorism operations would not be harmed.
A divided Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a revised version of the nation's major counterterrorism law, after intelligence and law enforcement officials assured lawmakers that counterterrorism operations would not be harmed.
The Obama administration, for a second straight day, frustrated Democratic lawmakers Wednesday by declining to say whether it backs their demands for more civil liberties safeguards in anti-terrorism surveillance and property seizures.
The Obama administration supports extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire at the end of the year, the Justice Department told Congress in a letter made public Tuesday.
Many things have changed for Muslim Americans in the seven years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: Interrogations from FBI and immigration officials. Additional screenings from airport security. The feeling of being targeted by the contentious Patriot Act.
If he wanted, the Barack Obama of today could have a pretty good debate with the Barack Obama of yesterday.
A federal appeals court ruled that some portions of the U.S. Patriot Act dealing with foreign terrorist organizations are unconstitutional because the language is too vague to be understood by a person of average intelligence.
A former sailor accused of disclosing information about Navy ships to a terrorism supporter made coded reference to Osama bin Laden in a recorded phone call with friends, prosecutors said Wednesday.
FBI Director Robert Mueller on Tuesday described as "misguided" a recent court decision that would prevent the government from obtaining personal, e-mail and financial records without a judge's approval.
The U.S. government on Monday appealed a ruling that it shouldn't be able to get personal phone, e-mail and financial records without a judge's approval, as now allowed under the USA Patriot Act.
The Bush administration is appealing a ruling by a federal judge in Oregon who struck down key portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional.
Two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow secret wiretapping and searches without a showing of probable cause, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
A federal judge struck down a key part of the USA Patriot Act on Thursday in a ruling that defended the need for judicial oversight of laws and bashed Congress for passing a law that makes possible "far-reaching invasions of liberty."
Democrats raised new questions Tuesday about whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales knew about FBI abuses of civil liberties when he told a Senate committee that no such problems occurred.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales received reports detailing legal or procedural violations by FBI agents in the months before he told senators that no such abuses had occurred, The Washington post reported Tuesday.
FBI Director Robert Mueller struggled Tuesday to convince skeptical senators that — despite recent abuses — the FBI should retain Patriot Act authority to gather telephone, e-mail and financial records without a judge's approval.
FBI Director Robert Mueller labored Tuesday to persuade skeptical senators that the FBI can properly use its Patriot Act authority to gather telephone, e-mail and financial records of Americans and foreigners while pursuing terrorists.
The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded Friday.
Four librarians spoke out for the first time on Tuesday after being subjected to a months-long gag order when the FBI demanded records about library patrons under the Patriot Act.
In this send-up of "Monopoly," players don't pass "Go" and they don't go directly to jail — they go to Guantanamo Bay.
A day before parts of the USA Patriot Act were to expire, President Bush signed into law a renewal that will allow the government to keep using terror-fighting tools passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
After a long battle with Congress that went down to the wire, President Bush signed a renewal of the USA Patriot Act on Thursday, a day before 16 major provisions of the old law expire.
Law enforcement officials get to keep their anti-terror tools, but with some new curbs, under the USA Patriot Act renewal passed by the House in a cliffhanger vote. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law on Thursday.
How To Defeat A Federal Wiretap (Got a computer or a smartphone? You're all set!)Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say they've discovered a way to circumvent the networking technology used by law enforcement to tap phone lines in the U.S.
GOP Reps Pick Tea Party Rally Over National-Security VotesSeveral Republican members of Congress yesterday blew off votes on the signature anti-terror legislation of the post 9/11 era to attend Michele Bachmann's Tea Party rally against health-care reform.
Tyranny of the State Rises and Falls on the Search PowerAt the very least, the Patriot Act must be repealed. Much more reasonably, the state's power to issue search warrants should be revoked entirely. No man should have his liberty or property violated on the very low standards of "probable cause" or "reasonable suspicion"!
Have Any Patriot Act Horror Stories Come True?It also doesn't help that among the already documented abuses is the intelligence community's failure to fully and accurately inform Congress about their use of those powers.
Obama Every Bit as Bad as Bush/Cheney on Patriot ActFeingold, Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and new Democrat Arlen Specter (Pa.) had the constitutional courage to oppose the Judiciary Committee bill eventually going to the floor that with few exceptions, leaves the Patriot Act intact.
Telecom Lobbying, Congress & the National Security StateFederal District Court Judge Jeffrey White denied a motion by the Obama administration that the court issue a 30-day stay to "release records relating to telecom lobbying over last year's debate over immunity for corporate participation in government spying," the Electronic Front …
Feingold Slams Fellow Democrats For Failure to Rein In Patriot Act AbusesBad news today from the Judiciary Committee. At the beginning of the year, I had high hopes for the Patriot Act reauthorization process. We had just elected a President with a strong civil liberties record in the Senate.
Partial Patriot Act Extension Is Approved by Senate PanelThe Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday that would renew portions of the USA Patriot Act in an effort to address administration concerns about protecting terrorism investigations.
Good News for Terrorists: Democratic Revisions to the PATRIOT ActIf only terrorists would be so accommodating as not to change cell phones, the new curbs on the Patriot Act being pushed by Democrats in Congress would not be so dangerous.
Democrats Wield The Patriot Ax Provisions of the law that spared New York another 9/11 are set to expire Dec. 31. So why do Democrats want to gut this law and remove the immunity telecom companies have for helping protect America?
Ending it would be a patriot's actI can see the Dittoheads now on the one hand demanding that big government stay out of providing health insurance options, while on the other hand insisting that Big Brother be allowed to continue to peer into the financial, travel, communications and library records of anyone it …
By noon the local government has declared a State of Emergency. People are ordered to return to their homes and stay there. By evening a curfew is imposed. Anyone caught on the streets will be arrested and questioned.
DOJ Admits Abuse of Patriot ActIn 2006, we found out that throughout 2004 and 2005 the FBI had abused the procedure hundreds of times, but they assured us that the situation had been fixed. And in 2008, we found out that the abuse had continued throughout 2006.
Swine Flu Document Lists Sports Arena As Mass Vaccination CentreIt appears that the majority of U.S.
Downsize DC a nonpartisan small government advocacy group has come out today in support the Justice Act. What the Justice Act entails is to put safeguards to prevent the Government from abusing the Patriot Act against it's own citizens.
Feingold Questions Department of Justice Officials on PATRIOT ActSenator Feingold questions Assistant Attorney General David Kris and Inspector General Glenn Fine at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act on September 23, 2009.
Probing the PATRIOT Act and More MisadventuresSenate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) have introduced legislation that would effectively gut the USA PATRIOT Act. This week, against the backdrop of multiple domestic terrorism-related investigations and arrests,
Catching everyone up to speed: It is early Sunday morning Nov 1st, 20** and all traffic on the Interstates into major cities around the nation have been brought to a halt by vehicles being abandoned and set on fire.
Al Franken reads the Fourth Amendment to DoJ official at PATRIOT Act hearingsAl Franken's Senate career just keeps on getting better: this week he read the Fourth Amendment ("no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.") alo …
The Obama administration sent Todd Hinnen, a DOJ representative to Capitol Hill this week to argue in favor of renewing three parts of the Patriot Act that will expire at the end of this year if not renewed. Check out this exchange between Hinnen and Hank Johnsong (D-GA):
Only 3 of the 763 PATRIOT "Sneak-and-Peek" Requests in 2008 Involved Terrorism; 65% Were Drug CasesIn the debate over the PATRIOT Act, the Bush White House insisted it needed the authority to search people's homes without their permission or knowledge so that terrorists wouldn't be tipped off that they're under investigation.
DoJ official finds it 'surreal' to have to respond to Franken's concerns about Patriot Act.Franken asks Assistant Attorney General David Kris how the Patriot act's "roving wiretaps" provision squares with the 4th amendment. Kris punts on the question, noting how "surreal" he thinks the situation is.
Obama to Use Current Law to Support DetentionsWASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided not to seek new legislation from Congress authorizing the indefinite detention of about 50 terrorism suspects being held without charges at at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, officials said Wednesday.
WATCH: DoJ Official Blows Cover Off PATRIOT ActIn the debate over the PATRIOT Act, the Bush White House insisted it needed the authority to search people's homes without their permission or knowledge so that terrorists wouldn't be tipped off that they're under investigation.
Bush Admin. Admits Patriot Act Used Mostly in Drug Casesn 2001, the debate over the Patriot Act, the Bush White House insisted it needed the authority to search people's homes without their permission or knowledge so that foreign terrorists wouldn't be tipped off that they're under investigation.
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