The Patriot Act-Judge Andrew Napolitano

H.R. 3162; Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001

"The patriot act lets federal agents write their own search warrants. We have come 360 degrees from fighting a revolution against a tyrannical government because it dispatched its agents to write their own search warrants, to establishing a constitution which assured us that would never happen and required that when the government wants anything from you it has to go to a judge, to popularly electing members of congress who would vote to gut the constitution and remove the second most important right in it and let federal agents write their own search warrants and that’s what this monstrosity of the so-called patriot act does.
When I was giving a speech similar to this in another state in the Midwest, there were a lot of members of congress there, about a half a dozen of whom came up to me afterwards and said:
‘We voted for the patriot act. We didn’t know that it allowed agents to write their own search warrants. We never heard that before.’
You then ask them a question, did you read it?
‘No we didn’t.’
Question, did you read anything before you voted on it?
‘Yes.’
Question, what did you read?
‘We read a summary of it.’
Question, prepared by whom?
‘By the Justice Department.’

Well of course the Justice Department is not going to tell you the powers that you’re giving to it. To make it the decider and it the person and entity that can violate privacy. So these sad, sorry people, who took an oath to uphold the constitution, in their blindness and in their fear, enacted legislation that would subvert the constitution. And some of them said ‘well you know, we did this because we trusted George W. Bush.’ Trusted him with what? We are a government of laws and not of men. We have a constitution that divides power, that keeps the states sovereign, that requires checks and balances. We don’t give this power to any single human being. It was the states who created the federal government and not the other way around. And power given to the federal government can be taken back.
Liberty lost, never comes back. So we have a government that claims that it will uphold the constitution of the United States. That nevertheless without even allowing members of congress to read the documents that assault our basic liberties, violates that very oath."
Judge Andrew Napolitano