The Patriot Act Extended

In the face of Thursday's looming deadline for its sunset, last night Congress extended the Patriot Act for four more years. In the face of Ron Paul's filibuster, leaders agreed to vote on his proposed amendments. They were quickly defeated.

According to NPR, Paul's amendments targeted the extension of three controversial provisions: allowing roving wiretaps; allowing surveillance of "lone wolf" terrorism suspects; one permitting the courts to collect persons' private information if they are suspected of having ties to terrorism. Paul got the most pushback on his amendment to raise the legal bar before searching gun registration and sale records.

The Patriot Act has always appeared to me to use terrorism as an excuse for weakening the Bill of Rights and controlling the American people.

Obama arranged to "sign" the law remotely just minutes before the provisions' expiration. Once given power, institutions are very reluctant to let it go, no matter how many sunset provisions laws might contain.