An Oregon judge Wednesday struck down a key portion of the USA Patriot Act, ruling that it violated the U.S. Constitution's ban on unreasonable search and seizure.
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Patriot Act gives federal agents too much unchecked power in conducting criminal investigations of U.S. citizens.
"The (government) here is asking this court to, in essence, amend the Bill of Rights, by giving it an interpretation that would deprive it of any real meaning. This court declines to do so," Aiken wrote.
And you know what? She's right. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights spell out what is and is not acceptable in terms of a US citizen's right to privacy and searches.
In oral arguments before Aiken earlier this month, Justice Department lawyers said the law adequately protected citizens. They also said that Mayfield had no right to pursue his case after he reached a settlement.
In a 44-page ruling, Aiken disagreed. She wrote that Mayfield could pursue his case because the government continued to keep information about him.
And that's the crux of everything. They KEPT the information. They could have said "Sorry, we made a mistake. We'll purge our information about you.", but they didn't. They thought they could keep the information for future use and violated this man's rights.
No matter what, you can't take away a US citizen's rights. Otherwise what would be the point of living in our great nation?
Travis
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