More on the Patriot Act Decision

September 10th, 2007

Gregory H. Pike - “Late last week, a federal court declared portions of the USA PATRIOT Act dealing with National Security Letters (NSLs) to be unconstitutional. The court found that the NSL secrecy requirements violated the First Amendment rights of NSL recipients. In addition, the court found that the PATRIOT Act did not provide an adequate opportunity for judicial review of NSLs. NSLs are issued by the FBI to individuals and businesses to obtain information about the target of a foreign intelligence or terrorism investigation. NSLs are used to obtain financial, credit, telephone, and Internet usage records. No subpoena or search warrant is required before an NSL is issued.”

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