Even as new U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to help renew the controversial Patriot Act, two senators said they planned to introduce a bill to curb parts of the Act that they think go too far—including the so-called “Library Provision” that allows the federal government to snoop into your reading habits.
Sens. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) introduced their bill at an April 5 press conference, flanked by such other Patriot Act critics as Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin); former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Georgia), who is now chairman of a group called Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances; and American Civil Liberties Union associate legislative office director Gregory Nojeim.
Craig and Durbin’s bill would curb expiring and nonexpiring portions of the Patriot Act like the library provision and the so-called “sneak and peek” provision that allows delayed notification warrants, which allow federal officials to search your home if you’re a suspect without telling you they did it until well after the search is done.
“Cooler heads can now see,” said Nojeim in a statement, “that the Patriot Act went too far, too fast, and that it must be brought back in line with the Constitution.”
The ACLU and Barr’s group are part of what’s considered an “unusual” coalition of liberal and conservative groups aiming to see parts of the Patriot Act repealed. One of the most high-profile conservative groups in the U.S., the American Conservative Union, is part of that effort.
The “library provision” in the Act allows secret warrants for books, records, papers, documents, and other items from businesses, hospitals, and other organizations. Opponents have feared from the outset that the provision could be abused to let the government subpoena library and bookstore records that suggest an American citizen’s reading habits without that citizen’s knowledge and whether or not that citizen actually committed or planned to abet any terrorist act.
Gonzales admitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the library provision has been used 35 times, but he added that it has not yet been used for library or bookstore records. But criticism of the provision has prodded five states and a reported 375 communities to pass anti-Patriot Act resolutions, according to the ACLU. And the Justice Department has said federal prosecutors asked for 155 “sneak and peek” warrants issued since 2001.
Gonzales does support letting those receiving secret warrants under the library provision the right to consult an attorney and challenge the warrant in court and is prepared to support “slightly tightening” the standard for issuing subpoenas, an unidentified Justice Department official told reporters April 4. But those, opponents argue, would not address their main concern with the provision, that the government could seize records of people not suspected of being terrorists or spies.
