[Infowarrior] - 2 Patriot Act Provisions Ruled Unlawful

[Richard Forno]

2 Patriot Act Provisions Ruled Unlawful

By WILLIAM McCALL
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 26, 2007; 8:03 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602
084_pf.html

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Two provisions of the USA 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 Fourth
Amendment."

Portland attorney Brandon Mayfield sought the ruling in a lawsuit against
the federal government after he was mistakenly linked by the FBI to the
Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people in 2004.

The federal government apologized and settled part of the lawsuit for $2
million after admitting a fingerprint was misread. But as part of the
settlement, Mayfield retained the right to challenge parts of the Patriot
Act, which greatly expanded the authority of law enforcers to investigate
suspected acts of terrorism.

Mayfield claimed that secret searches of his house and office under the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act violated the Fourth Amendment's
guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure. Aiken agreed with
Mayfield, repeatedly criticizing the government.

"For over 200 years, this Nation has adhered to the rule of law _ with
unparalleled success. A shift to a Nation based on extra-constitutional
authority is prohibited, as well as ill-advised," she wrote.

By asking her to dismiss Mayfield's lawsuit, the judge said, the U.S.
attorney general's office was "asking this court to, in essence, amend the
Bill of Rights, by giving it an interpretation that would deprive it of any
real meaning. This court declines to do so."

Elden Rosenthal, an attorney for Mayfield, issued a statement on his behalf
praising the judge, saying she "has upheld both the tradition of judicial
independence, and our nation's most cherished principle of the right to be
secure in one's own home."

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the agency was reviewing the
decision, and he declined to comment further.

Mayfield, a Muslim convert, was taken into custody on May 6, 2004, because
of a fingerprint found on a detonator at the scene of the Madrid bombing.
The FBI said the print matched Mayfield's. He was released about two weeks
later, and the FBI admitted it had erred in saying the fingerprints were his
and later apologized to him.

Before his arrest, the FBI put Mayfield under 24-hour surveillance, listened
to his phone calls and surreptitiously searched his home and law office.

The Mayfield case has been an embarrassment for the federal government. Last
year, the Justice Department's internal watchdog faulted the FBI for sloppy
work in mistakenly linking Mayfield to the Madrid bombings. That report said
federal prosecutors and FBI agents had made inaccurate and ambiguous
statements to a federal judge to get arrest and criminal search warrants
against Mayfield.
© 2007 The Associated Press