Judge Rules USA PATRIOT Act Breaks Separation of Powers Requirements
There was some very interesting news in the Kansas City Star today; "Judge strikes down part of Patriot Act"
The USA PATRIOT Act modified at least 34 different laws to allow various types of warrentless surveillance activities.
I wrote about the first version of the USA PATRIOT Act in a paper, "USA Patriot Act" I have posted on my web site.
Within it I list the 34 laws impacted, along with providing analysis of the impact of the law. I need to write an update to correspond with the updated law. However, much is still applicable.
From the news report today:
"U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the government orders must be subject to meaningful judicial review and that the recently rewritten Patriot Act "offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers.""
Will there be a third version of the USA PATRIOT Act coming out if there is enough activity and court rulings such as this?
Probably not until a new administration moves into the White House. It will likely make for some interesting presidential campaigning, though! The topic of surveillance has been discussed already by most of the candidates; see a nice summary at the pogowasright.org site.
The candidates, who are now virtually residents here in Iowa, have already talked about surveillance several times while stumping. It will be interesting to see what they have to say about today's ruling.
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