Patriot Act Suffers Another Blow

Although the Patriot Act is here to stay, the antiterrorism law has recently suffered some significant blows. A federal judge ruled on September 9 that the FBI must lift a gag order that’s preventing an organization with library records from identifying itself as the recipient of a request for patron information. Despite a government appeal of the decision on September 20, the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall remains a victory for libraries and First Amendment advocates.

“This is important because the government has this vastly expanded power [to demand library records without judicial review], but they’re not accountable for it,” says Patrice McDermott, deputy director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office of Government Relations. “No one is saying that law enforcement shouldn’t have the power to combat terrorism, but there’s a need for checks and balances.”

The decision marks the second time a federal court has ruled against the constitutionality of the National Security Letter provision of the law, which gives the FBI authority to demand library patron information.

Meanwhile, the Senate and the House are still ironing out their differences before reauthorizing parts of the Patriot Act that are set to expire at the end of this year. And ALA is urging its members to contact lawmakers to support the Senate version of the bill, which “adds an extra layer of oversight” by requiring that all requests for library records under Section 215 of the law be approved by the FBI director or his deputy, says Bernadette Murphy, of ALA’s Washington office.

On another front, the U.S. Justice Department on September 8 rejected Senator Richard Durbin’s (D-IL) request to declassify the number of national security letters issued by the department so far.