Usa Patriot Act

The Patriot Act -- a favorite tool in the George W. Bush administration's fight against terrorism -- may be renamed later this year as the Justice Act. But the law itself, including its controversial provisions that gave FBI agents more leeway to search computers and bank records, is likely to survive, albeit with some changes to limit who can be searched. "Security and liberty are both essential in our free society," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.

The recent forced resignations of six top federal prosecutors, including two in California, were based on "performance-related" concerns and were not politically motivated, a Justice Department official testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul J. McNulty defended the dismissals. "The indisputable fact is that United States attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president," he said. "They come and they go for lots of reasons."

An internal Justice Department report accuses the FBI of underreporting its use of the Patriot Act to force businesses to turn over customer information in terrorism cases, according to officials. The report, to be released today, also says the FBI failed to send follow-up subpoenas to telecommunications companies that were told to expect them, according to several government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report had not yet been released.

The Bush administration, accused of politicizing the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys, agreed Thursday not to oppose legislation to restore rules ensuring Senate oversight when new prosecutors are named, Senate Democrats said. The Justice Department also agreed to make five senior officials available to the Senate Judiciary Committee for questioning about the removal of eight U.S. attorneys in recent months, according to Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.

Angry lawmakers on Friday threatened to amend the USA Patriot Act and limit the FBI's powers in the wake of a disclosure that agents had improperly obtained confidential records of people in the United States.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales has so politicized the Justice Department that he should step down for the sake of the nation, the Senate's third-ranking Democrat said Sunday. Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York -- citing recent disclosures about the FBI's improper use of administrative subpoenas to obtain private records and the controversy over the dismissal of eight U.S.

ATTY. GEN. Alberto R. Gonzales has been the cheerleader-in-chief for the USA Patriot Act, the post-9/11 legislation that has made it easier for government investigators to obtain electronic records detailing the habits of ordinary Americans. So when even Gonzales complains that the FBI has been cutting corners in obtaining such sensitive information, Congress needs to take another look at the Patriot Act.

washington -- The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts.

The Bush administration's war on terrorism suffered another legal setback Thursday when a federal judge struck down part of the revised USA Patriot Act. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero ruled that investigators eventually must get a court's approval when ordering Internet providers and phone companies to turn over records without telling customers.

Two provisions of the Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without a showing of probable cause, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, "now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the 4th Amendment."