Bush Admin. Admits Patriot Act Used Mostly in Drug Cases

by TheCameraObscura | September 23, 2009 at 03:22 pm

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In 2001, the Bush administration hurried through the Patriot Act, barely more than a month after 9/11. One of the few senators who voted against it was Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, who expressed concerned that the patriot Act would be used against Americans... turns out he was right.

In 2001, the debate over the Patriot Act, the Bush White House insisted it needed the authority to search people’s homes without their permission or knowledge so that foreign terrorists wouldn’t be tipped off that they’re under investigation. President Bush assured citizens that the Patriot Act would not be used against Americans.

However, the Bush Department of Justice now admits to using this enormous federal power in American drug cases.

Only three of the 763 “sneak-and-peek” requests in fiscal year 2008 involved terrorism cases, according to a July 2009 report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Sixty-five percent were drug cases.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) quizzed Assistant Attorney General David Kris about the discrepancy at a hearing on the PATRIOT Act Wednesday. One might expect Kris to argue that there is a connection between drug trafficking and terrorism or that the administration is otherwise justified to use the authority by virtue of some other connection to terrorism.

He didn’t even try. “This authority here on the sneak-and-peek side, on the criminal side, is not meant for intelligence. It’s for criminal cases. So I guess it’s not surprising to me that it applies in drug cases,” Kris said.

“As I recall it was in something called the USA PATRIOT Act,” Feingold quipped, “which was passed in a rush after an attack on 9/11 that had to do with terrorism it didn’t have to do with regular, run-of-the-mill criminal cases. Let me tell you why I’m concerned about these numbers: That’s not how this was sold to the American people. It was sold as stated on DoJ’s website in 2005 as being necessary – quote – to conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists.”