New ABA Book Debates Pros and Cons of Controversial Patriot Act Provisions

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 25, 2005 — Passed overwhelmingly by Congress in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the USA Patriot Act has been one of the most polarizing and controversial laws ever passed. To some the Patriot Act is a vital tool for improving our policing and intelligence capabilities. To others it is so serious a threat to civil liberties that some municipalities have voted to condemn it. With almost half of the law set to expire this December 31, the debate over the Patriot Act is just heating up.

Entering into this debate is Patriot Debates, a new book published by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security that sets out arguments on each side. The book, compiled from postings on the committee’s sourceblog, www.patriotdebates.com, features section-by-section debates on key controversial elements of the Patriot Act.

The views expressed in the book have not been approved by the House of Delegates or Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and do not represent policy of the Association unless expressly noted.

Patriot Debates is divided into two parts. Part One focuses on the provisions of the Act that are set to expire at the end of 2005, including Section 203, authorizing information sharing between law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and Section 206, allowing roving wire taps. Part Two focuses on other issues that are not scheduled to expire, including measures tightening American border security, permitting preventive detentions, and strengthening legal tools to prevent the providing of material support to terrorist organizations.

Highlights of Patriot Debates include essays supporting the Patriot Act by supporters such as Viet Dinh, a former assistant attorney general and principal architect of the Patriot Act, and Manhattan Institute scholar Heather Mac Donald alongside critical essays by Kate Martin of the Center for National Security Studies and Patricia Wald, a former federal judge and member of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction.

To order a copy of Patriot Debates visit www.ababooks.org, or for more information contact Holly McMahon at mcmahonh@staff.abanet.org or 202/662-1035.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.