PRESS RELEASE - 7 November 2001
LINK
TO ADDITIONAL INFO ON USA PATRIOT ACT
The Tennessee League of
the South denounces the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001 as the worst insult to the
US Constitution since the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. The Tennessee
League of the South also charges President George W. Bush with being a
traitor worse than Benedict Arnold. Arnold attempted to turn a fort over
to the British, President Bush has turned the US Constitution on its head
by violating the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th
Amendments. Congress has joined in the treason by voting to enact the USA
PATRIOT ACT. Together they are attacking the 800 year-old heritage of
American liberty rooted in Magna Carta.
1. The ACT turns the Grand Jury into a
public forum. Testimony before a Grand Jury has previously been kept
secret in order to protect the innocent and allow a more secure method of
citizens bringing a criminal charge against someone. NOW the function of
the Grand Jury is virtually destroyed as testimony may be “shared”
with nearly any federal official or bureaucrat. Information gained from a
wiretap may also be shared in the same manner.
2. The ACT destroys our protection from
unreasonable searches and seizures guaranteed by the 4th
Amendment to the US Constitution. A “sneak and peak” warrant may be
issued by any court. Previously a search warrant was to be served as
police entered your home and they provided an inventory of items taken as
they left. NOW a police agency may enter your home in your absence, take
what they wish, and leave. When you report a burglary, they will pretend
to investigate, while knowing they are the thieves. You will be
notified of the search when they determine that the investigation is over.
In addition, any Federal Judge may now
issue such a warrant for use either inside or out of his judicial
district.
3. The ACT removes the equal protection
under law which both citizens and residents have enjoyed in the US. Any
alien may now be arrested and held without being charged with a crime. The
privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus has been denied to a whole segment
of our population in violation of Article I, Section 9 of the US
Constitution. While the ACT provides for Judicial review every SIX MONTHS,
the person’s confinement may be continued for an additional six months
upon suspicion. Appeals to this perversity can only be made
to the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC.
4. We have been told that the ACT has
a sunset provision, but this ACT is a permanent alteration to American “justice.”
The ACT is divided into 10 “Titles.” The sunset provision in Section
224 applies only the that portion (or Title) of the Act and specifically
exempts the most outrageous provisions. Senator Patrick Leahy (D, Vermont)
admitted while introducing the ACT in the Senate that the sunset “does
not apply to other controversial provisions in the bill…sharing grand
jury information…the so-called “sneak and Peak” authority…expanded
scope of subpoenas…and the new authority for pen registers and trap and
trace devices in criminal investigations.”
5. Most American console themselves with
the fact that they are law-abiding citizens who are not engaged in any
activity which could be termed terrorist. But the ACT defines “domestic
terrorism” as “activities that involve acts dangerous to human life
that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any
State” or which “appear to be intended…to influence the policy of a
government.”
Senator Russ Feingold (D, Wisconsin)
remarked during debate on the ACT, “all business records can be
compelled…medical records…educational records, or records of what
books somebody has taken out from the library. We are not talking about
terrorist suspects, we are talking about people who just may have come
into some kind of casual contact with the person in that situation.”
Senator Orin Hatch (R, Utah) defended the
passage of the ACT by saying, “To respond to the suggestion that the
legislation is not properly mindful of our constitutional liberties…I
would like to talk concretely about the loss of liberty…I am a little
bit more concerned right now about loss of life.” Benjamin Franklin
recognized the weakness of such men when he said, “If we surrender our
liberty in the name of security, we shall have neither.”
The Tennessee League of the South calls upon
Governor Sundquist and the Tennessee legislature to display true
leadership by denouncing the USA PATRIOT ACT.
The Tennessee League of the South further
calls upon Governor Sundquist and the Tennessee legislature to assert
Tennessee’s constitutional responsibility to protect Tennesseans by
expelling from the state any US official or agent who attempts to enforce
any provision of the ACT.
END OF RELEASE
