President Bush is stumping for many provisions of the original Patriot Act to be not only renewed before expiring at the end of 2005, but permanent fixtures in the American legislative landscape. Bush argues that these provisions have all but singlehandedly saved America from terrorism, having “closed dangerous gaps in America’s law enforcement and intelligence capabilities” (as quoted in this CNN article).

While Bush is presenting the frightening could-have-been scenarios that were thwarted by the Patriot Act’s presence, however, many civil liberties and privacy advocates continue to argue the potential and real abuses of the Patriot Act’s sweeping power. While the opposition has been hard-pressed to point to specific cases of overreaching authorities, many still argue from a fundamental and constitutional standpoint that the Act should not be renewed. Some Senators are pushing for a scaled-back version of the Patriot Act (see this Wired article). The same article quotes an ACLU senior counsel’s key point: “the lack of a documented case of abuse doesn’t mean the law doesn’t violate civil liberties.”

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