Unit 2: Chapter 17

 Attacks on September 11, 2001 shook America to its core  Largest on U.S. soil since World War II  Feeling of vulnerability  Congress passed new federal laws and made changes to existing laws

 New laws unnecessarily restrict individual rights when the country isn’t actually at war  Government has overstretched its powers  Country is in danger and new laws are made to protect Americans  Laws of prevention  Danger is worse from terrorism than during conventional war

 USA Patriot Act  Expanded authority of law enforcement agencies in order to combat terrorism in the United States and abroad ▪ Track and intercept communications  FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)  Special court whose records and rulings are kept secret ▪ Authorize wiretaps to identify terrorists ▪ Telephone, internet, bank transactions etc… ▪ Created in 1978, expanded upon after 9/11  Protect America Act  Expanded FISA to warrantless searches  Listen to telephone conversations, read s, monitor financial transactions, intercept faxes

 Arabs and Muslims in America have been called in for fingerprinting, photographing, special registration, and interviews by the FBI

 International treaties that establish the rules to war  No torture of enemy combatants  Signed by the United States  United States has claimed the Geneva Conventions do not apply because it is not war against a country, but a war against terrorism

 Hamdan v Rumsfeld 2006  U.S. Supreme Court rejected torture  Geneva Convention did apply  Detainee Treatment Act 2005  Severe penalties for torture  “No person in custody shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment/punishment”  Point of Disagreement:  What constitutes torture?  “aggressive questioning”  “enhanced interrogation”

 U.S. naval base where prisoners/detainees from war on terror are held

 Not part of United States  U.S. and international laws do not apply  Prisoners held for as long as 5 years  No access to lawyer  No way to challenge legality of their detention

 Provides a process, conducted by the military for detaining the status of enemy combatants  Denies judicial review  The Constitution states that a writ for habeas corpus, which allows a judge to determine whether a person is being unlawfully detained by the government, may be suspended