U.S. Patriot Act

Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts has it all wrong. The Kansas Republican wants to renew the Patriot Act and give the government new powers to conduct secret searches.

Ominously, he hasn't released a text of his bill, preferring to hold its first hearing secretly before the Senate Intelligence Committee. ...

We can only hope that the Senate rejects Roberts' wrong-headed move. The Patriot Act needs to be scaled back.

The act was passed in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist acts. Few lawmakers had time to read the fast-tracked bill. They knew only that the Bush administration said the bill was needed to fight terrorism. ...

Fortunately, nine sections of the act expire on Dec. 31. Several of these sections have raised opposition from the right and the left, who see the threat to individual rights when government power expands without checks and balances.

The Bush administration nevertheless defends the controversial sections as necessary to keep Osama bin Laden at bay. ...

We side with those who oppose sacrificing civil liberties in pursuit of an elusive security. The current Patriot Act places security above liberty. ...

Among the most offensive provisions is one that allows federal law officers to go to a secret court and get a secret search warrant for library records. Librarians can't reveal the search without risking going to jail.

The attorney general says this provision has never been used. But the FBI hasn't hidden its interest in reading habits. ...

Another provision expanded the FBI's power to obtain business records with no court approval at all _ and with a permanent gag order on the business. Such records may sometimes be needed, but warrants should be subject to a judge's oversight.

Other provisions of the Patriot Act make a lot of sense. Wire taps should be able to follow a person rather than being tied to a specific phone, for instance.

But excessive power granted to any government can easily be abused. Fixing the Patriot Act instead of expanding it still gives law enforcement the tools it needs. ...