Patriot Act

The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) is an Act of the United States Congress that was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001.

He signed into law broad tax cuts, the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors, and funding for the AIDS relief program known as PEPFAR.

The three Republicans voting "no" were Robert Ney of Ohio, Butch Otter of Idaho, and Ron Paul of Texas.

He has also been a vocal critic of mass surveillance policies such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the NSA surveillance programs.

With passing the USA Freedom Act on June 2, 2015, the expired parts were restored and renewed through 2019.

The USA Freedom Act is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored and modified several provisions of the Patriot Act, which had expired the day before.

On October 25, the Act passed the Senate by a 98–1 vote, the only dissident being Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

He was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act during the first vote on the legislation.

Title III of the Act, titled "International Money Laundering Abatement and Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001," is intended to facilitate the prevention, detection, and prosecution of international money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The September 11 attacks in 2001, which led to the Patriot Act in the U.S. and similar legislation worldwide, led to a new emphasis on money laundering laws to combat terrorism financing.

Many of the act's provisions were to sunset beginning December 31, 2005, approximately four years after its passage.

The law governing obligatory and voluntary disclosure of customer communications by cable companies was altered to allow agencies to demand such communications under U.S.C. Title 18 provisions relating to the disclosure of electronic communications (chapter 119), pen registers and trap and trace devices (chapter 206) and stored communications (121), though it excluded the disclosure of cable subscriber viewing habits.

This is the current definition of a Pen Register, as amended by passage of the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act.

The three Republicans voting "no" were Robert Ney of Ohio, Butch Otter of Idaho, and Ron Paul of Texas.

In 2001, Ney was one of three Republicans to vote against the USA Patriot Act (the other two were Butch Otter of Idaho and Ron Paul of Texas).

These sneak and peek provisions were struck down by judge Ann Aiken on September 26, 2007, after a Portland attorney, Brandon Mayfield, was wrongly jailed because of the searches.

An initial ruling declared some provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act unconstitutional, but the United States government appealed, and the ruling was overturned.

The three Republicans voting "no" were Robert Ney of Ohio, Butch Otter of Idaho, and Ron Paul of Texas.

In Congress, Otter was largely conservative with a slight libertarian streak, as reflected in his opposition to the Patriot Act.

However, Section 215 of the law was amended to stop the National Security Agency (NSA) from continuing its mass phone data collection program.

George W. Bush, president during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, approved the Patriot Act shortly after the attacks to take anti-terrorist security measures.

Money laundering "unlawful activities" was expanded to include the [[provision of material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations]].

In United States law, providing material support for terrorism is a crime prohibited by the USA PATRIOT Act and codified in title 18 of the United States Code, sections 2339A and 2339B.

Title II established three very controversial provisions: "sneak and peek" warrants, roving wiretaps and the ability of the FBI to gain access to documents that reveal the patterns of U.S. citizens.

Under the USA PATRIOT Act, signed into law during the 107th United States Congress, on October 26, 2001, for the first time in US history, sneak and peek warrants were used as standard procedure in investigations.

Those opposing the law have criticized its authorization of indefinite detentions of immigrants; the permission given to law enforcement to search a home or business without the owner's or the occupant's consent or knowledge; the expanded use of National Security Letters, which allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to search telephone, e-mail, and financial records without a court order; and the expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including library and financial records.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Section 412 of the Patriot Act permits indefinite detention of immigrants; one of the most highly publicized cases has been that of Jose Padilla, whose ultimate prosecution and conviction in the United States have been highly controversial.

In response to the September 11 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks, Congress passed legislation to strengthen national security.

Congress also passed the USA PATRIOT Act, saying it would help detect and prosecute terrorism and other crimes.

Those opposing the law have criticized its authorization of indefinite detentions of immigrants; the permission given to law enforcement to search a home or business without the owner's or the occupant's consent or knowledge; the expanded use of National Security Letters, which allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to search telephone, e-mail, and financial records without a court order; and the expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including library and financial records.

The USA PATRIOT Act increased the powers allotted to the FBI, especially in wiretapping and monitoring of Internet activity.

The impetus for many of the provisions came from earlier bills, for instance the condemnation of discrimination was originally proposed by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) in an amendment to the Combatting Terrorism Act of 2001, though in a different form.

Many Democrats are opposed to the Patriot Act, but when the law was passed most Democrats were supportive of it and all but two Democrats in the Senate voted for the original Patriot Act legislation in 2001.

On May 26, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, a four-year extension of three key provisions in the Act: roving wiretaps, searches of business records, and conducting surveillance of "lone wolves"—individuals suspected of terrorist-related activities not linked to terrorist groups.

In 2005 and 2006, Obama criticized certain aspects of the Patriot Act for infringing too much on civil liberties and sought as Senator to strengthen civil liberties protections.

These sneak and peek provisions were struck down by judge Ann Aiken on September 26, 2007, after a Portland attorney, Brandon Mayfield, was wrongly jailed because of the searches.

On September 26, 2007, Judge Aiken declared unconstitutional two portions of the USA PATRIOT Act that deal with the government's power to conduct certain surveillance without first obtaining a warrant.

One prominent critic of the ALA's stance was the Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald, who argued in an article for the New York City Journal that "[t]he furor over section 215 is a case study in Patriot Act fear-mongering."

She has defended the Patriot Act and argued for secrecy and speed in handling problems as well as the sharing of information between departments within the intelligence community, and advocated that the benefits of government power be balanced against the risks of abuse.

FinCEN was made a bureau of the United States Department of Treasury and the creation of a secure network to be used by financial institutions to report suspicious transactions and to provide alerts of relevant suspicious activities was ordered.

The 2001 USA PATRIOT Act required the Secretary of the Treasury to create a secure network for the transmission of information to enforce the relevant regulations.

In response to the September 11 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks, Congress passed legislation to strengthen national security.

Under heavy pressure from then Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, a bipartisan compromise in the House Judiciary Committee allowed legislation for the Patriot Act to move forward for full consideration later that month.

It prohibited shell banks that are not an affiliate of a bank that has a physical presence in the U.S. or that are not subject to supervision by a banking authority in a non-U.S. country.

In order to prevent money laundering, Subtitle A of the USA PATRIOT Act specifically prohibits such institutions, with the exception of shell banks that are affiliate (under the control) of a bank that has a physical presence in the U.S. or if the foreign shell bank is subject to supervision by a banking authority in the non-U.S. country regulating the affiliated depository institution, credit union, or foreign bank.

If money laundering was uncovered, the subtitle legislated for the forfeiture of assets of those suspected of doing the money laundering.

They have done this by enacting various anti-money laundering and forfeiture laws such as the RICO Act of 1970 and the US Patriot Act of 2001.

On August 28, 2015, Judge Victor Marrero of the federal district court in Manhattan ruled the gag order of Nicholas Merrill was unjustified.

He was the first person to file a constitutional challenge against the National Security Letters statute in the USA PATRIOT Act and consequently the first person to have a National Security Letter gag order completely lifted.