FBI’s Pursuit of Library Records Challenged

A controversial provision in the Patriot Act that allows authorities to search citizens’ personal records faced its first public challenge in federal court Wednesday as a library sought to lift a gag order on an FBI inquiry into its files.

The case stems from an FBI request for records of a library patron without identifying the threat posed by the person, said a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the unidentified library in U.S. District Court.

The library chose to challenge the order.

A Justice Department lawyer argued that the FBI investigation would be threatened if the name of the library and other details were disclosed.

“Maybe if we knew all the facts, there might be some limited need for the gag” order, said Ann Beeson, the ACLU lawyer. “We believe the government has done nothing to justify the gag.”

Enacted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Patriot Act allows authorities to search personal records from bookstores, businesses, hospitals and libraries.

The recipient of the FBI request is ordered to keep it secret. But the ACLU considers the gag order to be a breach of the Constitution’s right to freedom of speech.

Beeson said the library was not trying to force the FBI to disclose its entire investigation, but wanted the right to discuss the case publicly when Congress debated whether to extend key parts of the Patriot Act.

The House of Representatives, ignoring protests from civil liberties groups, voted this summer to reauthorize 16 provisions of the Patriot Act that expire at the end of the year, including the library clause.

The Senate is expected to take up the matter after lawmakers return from summer recess.

Kevin O’Connor, the Justice Department’s lawyer, asked U.S. District Judge Janet Hall not to lift the gag order.

“If you do this, the target of this investigation will learn that the government is investigating an organization in which he’s involved,” he said. “He is likely to stop doing what he is doing.”

The judge said she would rule next week.