The USA Patriot Act violated the United States Constitution

As pro, I have the burden of proof. For con to win, con must defend ALL my arguments. For pro to win, I must prove that at least one section of the USA Patriot Act violates at least one amendment of the United States Constitution.

Section 213 states in order “to search for and seize any property or material that constitutes evidence of a criminal offense in violation of the laws of the United States, any notice required, or that may be required, to be given may be delayed” this violates the fourth amendment which clearly states a warrant must be given for search and seizure and a clear description for the place to be searched. Notice is important as it allows the person being searched to point out irregularities in the warrant and what the police are searching, this section allows police to search at their discretion.

Section 215 states the FBI “may make an application for an order requiring the product of any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or cladestine intelligence activities provided that such investigation of a United states person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment” the issues with this are

section 104 of The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, NOT the Patriot act HAD the criteria for electronic surveillance to take place that “the purpose of the surveillance is to obtain foreign intelligence information;” Which is perfectly constitutional and reasonable, however, the Patriot Act amends this to say “a SIGNIFICANT purpose of the surveillance is to obtain foreign intelligence information”, this new wording allows  surveillance that is not fully based on foreign intelligence information, and it could be based on numerous other factors. The fourth amendment states there must be a probable cause for a search and seizure. For clarification, I DO believe since surveillance based solely on foreign intelligence information and approved by the executive branch it is not in violation of the fourth amendment. section 218 on the other hand, requires it is only PARTIALLY  based on foreign intelligence information, which I DO believe to be in violation of the fourth amendment. 

Section 412 mandates detainment of suspected terrorists without need for due process or even a trial. Furthermore, if one’s country will not allow them back in, and they are still seen as a threat to national security, they are to be detained indefinitely. This is undeniably a CLEAR violation of three amendments: the 5th amendment as the suspected terrorist does not go through due process, 6th amendment as they do not have a speedy and public trial and finally, the 8th amendment as per the lengthy and disproportionate detainment length. Now as to who is determined to be a suspected terrorist, there are many different reasons specified for why, including the broad claim of the person being “engaged in any” “activity that endangers the national security of the United States". But I would like to  zero in on one in specific, if a person “is the spouse or child of an alien who” the United States determines as having reasonable cause to believe they are a terrorist and “if the activity causing the alien to be found inadmissible occurred within the last 5 years” they are a suspected terrorist. To be clear, this means a child can be detained indefinitely without a trial, purely because their parent is a suspected terrorist who again, may not even have had a trial. 

Resolved: The USA Patriot Act violated the United States Constitution