Patriot Act Passes Congress; Bush Signs Bill

On Tuesday, March 7, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 280 - 138 to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act, including a four-year extension of Section 215, which authorizes searches of bookstore and library records. On Thursday, March 9, President Bush signed the bill into law.

In response to the House vote, the sponsors for the Campaign for Reader Privacy -- the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center -- announced that, though the Patriot Act had been improved, they will continue to work with key members of Congress to restore the protections for reader privacy. In addition, CRP promised to support a bill introduced on Monday, March 6, by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) that includes a number of civil liberties protections that were omitted from the reauthorization bill, including a provision that fixes Section 215.

Included in the new Patriot Act reauthorization bill is a "compromise" reached in negotiations between the White House and four Republican senators who had been blocking a vote on extending the Patriot Act because they did not believe that the proposed reauthorization bill contained enough protections for civil liberties.

CRP and other critics of the reauthorization bill ultimately passed by Congress noted that a major disappointment is that the legislation does not narrow authority to search bookstore and library records to the records of people who are suspected of terrorism. Both the House and the Senate approved such a limitation. However, it was strongly opposed by the Bush administration, and, in the end, it was not included in the reauthorization bill. As a result, the FBI retains the authority under Section 215 to search any records that are "relevant" to a terrorism investigation.

However, the bill does include a number of provisions that at least partially restore safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records that were eliminated by the Patriot Act, including the right to challenge Section 215 orders in court. (For a previous article on this topic, click here.) Public pressure, including a national petition drive by CRP that generated hundreds of thousands of signatures, succeeded in forcing the addition of some new protections. (To read a related article on this topic by bookseller Linda Ramsdell, click here.)

CRP sponsors stated that they would continue to work with Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont (I-VT), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), and other leaders in the campaign to restore the protections for reader privacy. Specter, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said that he will hold hearings on his bill, S. 2369, soon.

In related news, ABA COO Oren Teicher wrote a letter to booksellers in response to this week's passage of the Patriot Act. To read the letter, click here.

In addition, ABA is providing booksellers with a PDF that they can download that explains to customers the outcome of the Patriot Act reauthorization and also thanks customers for their participation in the Campaign for Reader Privacy.