“The Patriot Act violates the Constitution by allowing..."

“The Patriot Act violates the Constitution by allowing searches and seizures of American citizens and their property without a warrant issued by an independent court upon a finding of probably cause.  Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts [...] may issue warrants for individual records, including medical and library records.  It can do so secretly, and the person who turns over the records is muzzled and cannot ever speak of the search.  The attorney general is given the power, with no judicial oversight, to write “national security letters” ordering holders of any of your personal records to hand them over for the government to examine - a power that has already been abused.  You would have no way of knowing that this had been done.

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In fact, a requirement that law enforcement demonstrate probable cause may help law enforcement officials focus their efforts on true threats, thereby avoiding the problem of information overload that is handicapping the government’s efforts to identify sources of terrorist financing. 

History demonstrates that the powers we give the federal government today will remain in place indefinitely.  How sure are we that future presidents won’t abuse those powers? Politically motivated IRS audits and FBI investigations have been used by past administrations to destroy political enemies.  Past abuses of executive surveillance are the reason FISA was passed in the first place.” -Page 115 & 116 of The Revolution, A Manifesto