The framers of the U.S. constitution did not want a government that could abuse individual liberties and rights. Though, the Federalists believed a constitution without a bill of rights section was enough to secure American rights, the Anti-Federalists strongly believed a bill of right had to be incorporated in the constitution to tame the government. This Anti-Federalist idea made the constitution to be amended after ratification to accommodate the citizens’ rights. But, these rights were not given to all people since the framers of the constitution did not dwell on them too much due to the prevailing conditions like slavery that was a threat to the Union and the young American nation (Trident University Online Library, n.d.).
Civil liberties limit the power of the government and protects freedoms and rights of individuals from government intrusion. Since, the first ten amendments of the U.S. constitution talk of the “persons” rights, do the constitution protect illegal immigrants? Are civil liberties enjoyed by all the American citizens? What might make the government ignore a constitution that defines its powers?
Section 215 of the Patriot Act is a legislation that was passed in 2001 after 9/11 attack that left thousands of American dead and others with lifetime scars and trauma. The law empowers security agencies to collect information of American citizens even the ones that contravene civil liberties. For example, these agencies can spy citizen communications, conduct warrantless searches and obtain bank and business records of citizens (Savage, 2020).
Patriot Act has been criticized by civil organizations and individuals for intruding civil liberties. But, the government considers the security of the nation first. Should the security of the nation be achieved at the expense of individual liberties and rights? Though, the Patriot Act may be discriminatory and against the civil liberties and rights, the rational basis test makes it acceptable (Trident University Online Library, n.d.). This is because the government discriminates in order to ensure American are safe and counter terrorism activities that may destroy the American nation.
The expiring of Patriot Act parts in 2015 that allowed intrusion to individual rights does not mean the government has stopped going against civil liberties. The government can use National Security Letters and still be able to get personal information of a given citizen (Lind, 2015). These letters can be misused as government cites security concerns. But, why should the government infringe innocent citizen’s rights? The government collects information of nearly all citizens and not for a suspect only as revealed by Snowden (Trident University Library, n.d.).
The Patriot Act was passed when the nation was undergoing a tough time. That is immediately after 9/11 attack. Both houses, the Congress and the Senate, were still emotionally carried by what had transpired. The lawmakers had no time to look on the negative side of the USA PATRIOTIC ACT. The two houses passed the bill out of emotions (Mineshima-Lowe, 2019). This bill need to be revisited now since the nation has now healed from that domestic attack. If the Congress and the Senate now debate on this bill again chances are the bill will not be supported overwhelmingly as it was supported. By now reason will overtake emotions.
If the Patriot Act sections like 215 that infringe on individual’s civil liberty are revisited and scrapped, will the government stop intruding individual’s rights like privacy? The government might come up with modern “black codes.” After the civil war and Emancipation Proclamation the slaves majorly African Americans were set free. But, the Southern states drafted black codes that were laws meant to restrict the freed Black people (History.com Editors, 2021). Will the government make National Security Letters be black codes?
In the South, though the constitution gave the Blacks equal protection rights, other movements like White Supremacists suppressed those rights and majority of the Blacks in the South did not enjoy those rights. Will the same happen to the American Citizens if Patriot Act is scrapped? Will the Federal diehards form groups to limit citizens from enjoying civil liberties?
Since the inception of the Patriot Act what has the security agencies been able to achieve? Has Patriot Act born meaningful fruits? The government need to explain how intrusion of civil liberties has helped it. It might be the Act is making innocent citizens suffer as the government is more concerned with the national security. Who knows whether the data accessed by the security agencies are used against the concerned citizen? Patriot Act has gone beyond limits it was made for (Sensenbrenner, 2021).
The First Amendment gives all the citizens the right to assemble, air their grievances and petition the government to address them. But, those who exercise this right meets police brutality (Thomas, 2020). How many Blacks have been misused by the police during the famous “Black Lives Matters” protests? Are these individuals not part of American citizens? The racial inequality in health, jobs, education, criminal justice, housing among other areas are clear indication of discrimination (Richeson, 2020). One might think America belongs to the Whites or the other races are lesser Americans. Might this be the case? As American citizens there is a need to pressure the Federal government to adhere to the constitution. Putting the nation interests ahead of civil liberties might trigger a civil war. A keen look of what is going in America indicates that the nation may be near a civil war. The nation is already divided but tied by a constitution which is hard to amend and not followed to letter. The Federal government may think USA Patriot Act will secure the nation, but the major problems are in not implementing the constitution (O’Toole, 2021)
