COMMUNITY GROUPS TO HOLD PUBLIC FORUM ON PATRIOT ACT
Forum Kicks off Campaign to Introduce Resolution Reaffirming Bill of Rights
St. Louis, November 20, 2003: Community groups including the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, Instead of War Coalition and Bill of Rights Defense Committee will hold a public forum tonight at the City Museum addressing the USA PATRIOT Act. The forum, which starts at 7:00pm, kicks off a campaign to promote the adoption of a 'Resolution to Defend the Bill of Rights and Civil Liberties' by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. Forum panelists will include Matt LeMieux, Executive Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, noted civil rights activist Percy Green, Kris Kleindienst of Left Bank Books, University City Mayor Joseph Adams, and Riverfront Times founder Ray Hartmann.
President Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act into law on October 26, 2001 in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Activists across the political spectrum believe that portions of the Act constitute an unprecedented assault on civil liberties. Of particular concern are provisions in the Act which permit the government to search personal financial, library, travel, video rental, phone, medical, church, synagogue and mosque records without the target individual's knowledge or consent (Section 215); permit secret searches of homes and offices without a warrant, without probable cause to believe a crime has occurred, and without meaningful judicial oversight (Section 218); expand the power to conduct warrant searches by authorizing searches in non-terrorist criminal investigations without notice before or after the search (Section 213, aka the 'Sneak and Peek' provision); permit the attorney general or his designees to secretly obtain personal records by letter request without any judicial oversight (Section 505, aka the 'National Security Letters' provision); allow the attorney general to detain immigrants indefinitely without probable cause (Section 412); and create the new crime of 'domestic terrorism' so broadly defined that it could include domestic activist organizations engaged in civil disobedience (Section 802).
In the two years since the Act's passage, 214 cities, towns and counties across the United States have passed resolutions and ordinances reaffirming their commitment to civil liberties and the Bill of Rights in the face of the Patriot Act. University City is the only Missouri city to have passed such an ordinance to date.
A model resolution for the City of St. Louis is available online at www.insteadofwar.org.