Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances (PRCB) is a network of individuals and organizations – conservatives and progressives -- that believes the threat of terrorism cannot be allowed to dissolve or erode the carefully constructed structural foundations for preserving our liberty, enshrined forever in the Constitution For more information on the PRCB- http://www.checksbalances.org/index.php

In the 2 1/2-page resolution, the [George Mason University] faculty senate, joined by the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors, calls on university administrators to inform students if authorities seek their school records and to make sure students know that authorities can secretly view their library records, bookstore purchases and electronic communication. (MORE at Washington Post)

End run around the FourthThe Patriot Act blurred the key contrasts between foreign-intelligence-gathering and domestic law enforcement. Now, intelligence-gathering need not be the sole purpose of FISA-warrant-authorized surveillance.Instead, as a result of Section 218 of the Patriot Act, intelligence-gathering need only be "a significant purpose" of FISA-authorized surveillance.The result has been that not just CIA agents, but FBI agents as well -- or even state police, cooperating with the CIA and FBI -- have the ability to utilize FISA's secrecy and lower legal standards. No longer must they prove "probable cause" that a crime has been, or is being, committed -- as the Fourth Amendment requires.Instead, all they have to prove is that foreign intelligence is a "significant" purpose of the surveillance. Another purpose can be domestic law enforcement.As I pointed out in an earlier column, the result is to to open the door to an end run around Americans' Fourth Amendment rights. Unable even to see the basis for the secret FISA warrant that authorized a search of their home or business, Americans may not be able to challenge that warrant in a criminal proceeding.

...Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act is especially troublesome, Eland argues, because it allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain a search warrant from a secret intelligence court without having to present evidence that the subject is a spy or a terrorist -- the FBI need only "certify" to the court that the subject is part of a terrorism or espionage investigation....

The head of the American Conservative Union, David Keene, said he was upset that the administration appeared to be encouraging the Patriot Act provisions' renewal through the more secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, despite pledges of openness and of a willingness to consider compromise. ... Keene is particularly upset with Atty. Gen. Gonzales, who has agreed in recent meetings with conservative activists, participants said, to the principle of open discussion and careful review of the Patriot Act before 16 of its most important provisions are renewed.