The USA Patriot Act was passed in response to the attacks on September 11, 2001. The Act is argued to be an infringement on inalienable rights. Discuss what an inalienable right is and how the Patriot Act infringes on those rights.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

An inalienable right is a universal right that is not contingent on the law of the government. Our Bill of Rights are inalienable rights provided to all American citizens. These rights include the right from unreasonable search and seizure. A right to due process and freedom of speech are all examples of inalienable rights. The USA Patriot Act allows for the government, without a warrant, be able to monitor conversations between people. The Act reduced restrictions on intelligence gathering. This included telephones, wiretaps, searching business records, and surveillance of individuals with no ties to criminal organizations. This legislation is in violation of several inalienable rights. The government cannot search a person or person’s private lives without a warrant. That is a person’s right to privacy. The Act, under the guise of national security, was able to bypass this right. The Act allowed for the government to search telephone records, personal records, business records, e-mails, and travel data to rule out whether a person was working for a terrorist group. This denies a person due process as well. The government is assuming everyone is guilty before the government has the evidence to prove guilt. The Act also allows for the government to detain and deport people bases on very loose ties to terrorism. In the years since the Act’s passing, the authority given to the government has bordered on abused as the government has been picking and choosing people based on their religion to keep from entering the county. Religion-based discrimination is a violation of our inalienable First Amendment right, more and more cases are being reported where the government has detained and deported American citizens. This Act has allowed our fear of another terrorist attack override our basic foundation right. President Obama signed an extension of The Act in 2011, in 2015, after Edward Snowden released various documents to the press from classified programs showing the U.S. government spying on our own citizens, President Obama allowed the Patriot Act to expire and pass the USA Freedom Act, keeping many of the Patriot Act’s terms but removing the NSA’s ability to spy on citizens.