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'Patriot Act II' bill raises concerns over civil liberties

The bill's purpose is to protect safety and freedom, but some constitutional rights advocates believe it will deny them privacy and freedom of speech

Jennifer Bear Campus/Federal Politics Reporter
Oregon Daily Emerald- May 02, 2003

While the world has recoiled in fear from the threat of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a fear of a different kind has haunted people on American soil -- the deterioration of civil liberties.

The Lane County Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the American Civil Liberties Union have spent the past several months raising a ruckus over the Justice Department's draft legislation called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, also known as "Patriot Act II."

The Justice Department has not officially released the legislation, but "Patriot II" captured public attention after the Center for Public Integrity obtained a draft of the undisclosed legislation and provided a full text of the document on its Web site earlier this year.

The bill would expand the current anti-terrorism legislation known as the USA PATRIOT Act, and contains more than 500 provisions to endow the government with mightier muscles for curbing terrorism, or according to constitutional rights advocates, crippling civil liberties.

"The new Ashcroft proposal threatens to fundamentally alter the constitutional protections that allow us to be both safe and free," said Timothy H. Edgar, an ACLU legislative counsel. "If it becomes law, it will encourage police spying on political and religious activities, allow the government to wiretap without going to court and dramatically expand the death penalty under an overbroad definition of terrorism."