Patriot Act Ruling Could Curtail FBI Technique
A federal judge’s decision yesterday striking down parts of the USA Patriot Act could cut the FBI’s use of national security letters to gather customer information from telecommunications companies for terrorism investigations.
The decision said the revisions violated the First Amendment by giving the FBI wide discretion to make case-by-case determinations whether companies may reveal they are turning over customer information to the government. The opinion by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero also said the law’s deferential standard for review of FBI secrecy orders threatened the balance of powers.
The ruling comes in the wake of reports that the FBI violated its own rules or privacy laws more than a thousand times in issuing the letters, the Washington Post reports. The story says the letters could be eliminated or sharply curtailed, although the government is likely to appeal the ruling.
The USA Patriot Act, adopted in 2001 and revised in 2005, eased rules for use of national security letters, which compel companies to turn over customer information without a warrant, while increasing secrecy, the Post says. As a result, the FBI has increased use of the letters, issuing almost 50,000 in 2005 compared to less than 9,000 in 2000.
The FBI maintains it needs the letters to quickly gather information at important, early stages of terrorism probes.
The New York Times reports that Marrero “used his strongest language and evocative historical analogies” in criticizing limits on court review. The judge wrote that the law could be a first step leading to restraints on judicial review that would be “the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values.”
