Many citizens had no concern about the Patriot Act passage. " I’ve done nothing wrong, I’ve got nothing to hide"
Current invasion:
The government is not entitled to rummage through the political opinions, associations, criticisms and angry rhetoric of anyone merely because a government official finds those opinions offensive, threatening to an agency’s reputation or inconvenient to its mission.
Recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has dramatically expanded its monitoring of social media platforms and has issued administrative subpoenas seeking information identifying users whose posts have criticized ICE. The reported investigations have included Americans and aliens who have not been charged with crimes.
The proper law enforcement sequence is crime first, suspect second, investigation third. The government cannot constitutionally begin with protected expression and work backward in search of a crime.
If case you wish to review the Patriot Act; you might wish to peruse:
I remember when the Patriot Act came into being and I told someone sitting next to me, “Well, there go our civil liberties.” He was aghast, “No… how… but, but…”
And here we are.
We need to claw them back. Trouble is, their destruction suits power hungry politicians.
It may be helpful to also make the distinction between an administrative subpoena and a judicial one. In the former, if you do not comply with the subpoena, ICE has to then go to a federal court and seek an actual court order (by having a U.S. Attorney seek an order from a federal district court requiring compliance).
I would imagine that in some instances, the reason that ICE gives the court for that subpoena may not fly…
The Patriot Act has significantly impacted the governance structure of the United States, affecting the balance of power among government branches and raising concerns about transparency and accountability.
The Patriot Act expanded the authority of the executive branch, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law enforcement agencies. The Act granted these agencies greater powers to conduct surveillance, gather intelligence, and detain individuals suspected of terrorism-related activities.
It’s much tidier to move power from the judicial branch to the executive branch