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New Yale Scholarship: Alternatives to PATRIOTism
Posted by Lea Bishop on Monday, April 05 @ 16:31:56 EDT Scholarship
Bruce Ackerman, The Emergency Constitution, 113 YALE L.J. 1029 (2004).

Taking as its starting point the premise that, “Terrorist attacks will be a recurring part of our future,” this Essay sets forth the outline of a constitutional regime which would permit a government to declare a temporary emergency in the wake of a terrorist attack. The author’s concern is to enable the state to effectively take dramatic action in the wake of such an attack to reassure the public, without causing long-term damage to civil rights. (The implicit point of comparison is always The USA PATRIOT Act, which, unlike the temporary emergency regime conceived by the author, contains no expiration date.) In order to create checks and balances in such a regime, the proposed framework relies upon systems of time limits and renewal votes, ascending super-majorities, and empowering the legislative opposition through information and key committee positions. Under such a framework, mass preventive detentions would be permitted during a state of emergency, with innocent detainees entitled to financial compensation after the fact. The Essay also considers what sort of judicial structures would be required to implement such a legal regime.

(Abstract prepared by Lea Bishop)
 
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Re: Alternatives to PATRIOTism (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Thursday, April 08 @ 09:56:00 EDT
Unless I'm mistaken, the PATRIOT Act does have a sunset provision. I forget when exactly it is slated to "expire."


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