Feingold visits UW, speaks on Patriot Act

by James Davison

Campus Reporter

Wisconsin Senator and University of Wisconsin graduate Russ Feingold gave a speech at the Wisconsin Union Theater Sunday, sharing his views on the United State’s actions in the months following the 9/11 attacks, particularly in terms of the U.S. Patriot Act.

As the only U.S. Senator to vote against the legislation, Feingold expressed several criticisms of it.

“This is a naked power grab by the government itself,” Feingold said, adding that the act is one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation he has ever seen. The Senate passed the bill 98-1 in October 2001.

Feingold said the legislation for the Patriot Act was “rushed” and the process was “shut down by a democratic leadership in both houses,” which progressed the bill through “fear and intimidation.”

Recalling a phrase from a legal case he studied as a Harvard law student, Feingold said, “While the Constitution protects against invasions of individual rights, it is not a suicide pact.”

“We must be careful not to take our civil liberties [so] literally that we allow ourselves to be destroyed,” Feingold said.

Feingold also claimed the U.S. government has lost its focus and concentration in the fight on terrorism.

“I believe it has been frittered away by an administration that has become obsessed by actions in Iraq,” he said.

One of the provisions of the bill Feingold mentioned is his opposition to Section 215, which expands the ability of government surveillance to include businesses, libraries and personal computer usage, which he claimed can be inspected without “any proof, relevance, or suspicion.”

In the immediate time period following the Patriot Act’s passing, Feingold claimed he was surprised at the amount of people in Wisconsin and around the country who were raising questions against the bill.

“It was almost as if people were saying, ‘We must fight terrorism, but we believe we can do it in our constitutional structure that we have followed for 200 years,'” Feingold said, adding that since then, 275 city and four state legislatures have passed resolutions against the Patriot Act.

Since the Patriot Act’s passing, many have claimed new legislation is needed to limit its broad powers. Feingold said the response of the administration to this opposition is unlike anything he has seen in his career.

“I served on the state legislature for 10 years, I’m in my 12th year of the U.S. Senate, and I never remember a governor or president who have threatened to veto a bill before it even has a number,” Feingold said. “That is just the opposite of a good faith discussion about the balance of fighting terrorism and preserving the constitution.”

Feingold said the Patriot Act represents a lack of faith in judges and their ability to uphold the Constitution.

“If the FBI comes and says, ‘Information [about someone] is sought,’ the judge is required to allow it,” he said.

Throughout the speech, Feingold pushed for activism among American people.

“All of us have the duty as citizens to make ourselves heard on the issue,” Feingold said. “I urge you to defend your freedoms and not be afraid to ask your government tough questions and demand straight answers, even in the toughest of times.”

Not everyone is opposed to the Patriot Act, including state Senator and candidate for the republican U.S. Senate nomination Robert Welch, R-Redgranite, who lent his support to the legislation and the war in Iraq.

“I support this administration and believe that their efforts in the war on terrorism are saving lives every day,” Welch told The Badger Herald in September.

The Act’s top supporter, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, says the measure is needed to safeguard American security and freedom.

“From the war on terrorism to the battle against violent crime, our strategy is succeeding,” Ashcroft said in a speech made last September. “America is more secure today than it was two years ago. America is safer today than it was two years ago. America is freer today than at any time in the history of human freedom.”

The UW Law School and its chapter of the American Constitution Society helped sponsor Feingold’s speech.