A Sly Move by Sen. Hatch

While tumbling statues of Saddam Hussein keep Americans glued to their televisions, a lawmaker is trying to slip a measure through Washington that would seriously erode the constitutional rights every American takes for granted.

Now before the Senate Judiciary Committee is Chairman Orrin G. Hatch’s proposal to repeal the sunset provisions in the USA Patriot Act, which gave law enforcement vast new powers after the 9/11 attacks. The Utah Republican is breaking faith with his colleagues who, because haste seemed judicious, agreed to the act with minimal debate and despite serious misgivings.

The 300-page law included some overdue reforms that brought this nation’s surveillance laws into the 21st century, making it easier, for example, for federal agents to tap a suspect’s cell phones in addition to his or her home and business lines.

But the act also granted the government broad new powers in criminal investigations, often involving suspects with no connection to terrorism. This represents a dramatic shift in the balance of U.S. law away from individual civil liberties. Agents can now search an individual’s home without his knowledge or consent and demand that librarians and booksellers tell them what books a person has borrowed or bought. The government can more easily detain individuals, hold them for a longer time without charging them and more easily deport noncitizens.

Many in Congress voted for the Patriot Act only because of the agreement that lawmakers would have the opportunity to re- approve its most controversial changes after thorough review. They wisely wanted to see how the Justice Department used these new powers, whether there were abuses and whether the law was effective in combating terrorism. To protect American freedoms, they made sure some new powers not re- approved would expire in 2005. Yet since the act became law, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft has largely stonewalled congressional requests for information on Justice Department activities, angering even some Bush administration supporters.

By approving Hatch’s amendment now, senators would surrender their authority to review the act more than two years before the sunset provisions became effective. Hatch offers no compelling argument for repealing the provisions. It’s hard to imagine there are any. The additional powers are already in place. Law enforcement can use them even as Congress determines which are helping preserve and which are diminishing civil liberties. Americans need to take their eyes off the events in Baghdad long enough to make sure that democracy remains strong in the U.S.