Passed with overwhelming support from lawmakers and signed by Bush within two months of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Patriot Act gives officials more powers in conducting searches and seizures and in sharing information.
It allows the government to cite terrorism and computer fraud as the basis for requesting wiretaps; allows roving wiretaps to follow suspects, no matter what telephones they use; and allows secret searches in which the authorities delay notifying a suspect.
Among other provisions, it allows the attorney general to detain any noncitizen believed to be a national security risk, in some cases for long periods of time.
One key provision aims to remove a legal "wall" that limited the sharing of information between criminal and intelligence investigators. Testimony before the independent Sept. 11 commission has suggested that the barrier inhibited authorities from learning more about the Sept. 11 hijackers before the attacks.
The Patriot Act has been an awkward issue at times for Bush, drawing heat from some in his own conservative base. Critics have included not only the Democratic presidential candidates and the American Civil Liberties Union, but also libertarians, advocates for smaller government and members of the National Rifle Assn.
Critics Versus the Polls
Many critics denounced the act as an intrusion on privacy rights and civil liberties.
Last fall, the very mention of Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's name and his link to promoting the Patriot Act was easily the biggest applause-getter in Democratic rallies. When Ashcroft embarked on a national tour to highlight the law's benefits, he was greeted at nearly every stop by protesters.
But a series of new polls published last week have led strategists to conclude that the deftly named Patriot Act is a winner for Bush.
Those polls also gave the president a lead over Kerry, despite weeks of potentially damaging footage of deadly chaos in Iraq, tough questions about Bush's leadership on terrorism by the Sept. 11 commission and a new book suggesting Bush was intent on invading Iraq far earlier than was initially believed.
While the president's numbers have sagged on issues such as the economy and the war in Iraq, a Washington Post/ABC News survey found that 63% approved of the president's handling of the war on terrorism. In a Gallup Poll conducted for CNN and USA Today, more than twice as many respondents said they thought Bush would do a "good job" on terrorism as thought Kerry would.
