Senator Russ Feingold is planning to filibuster the extension of the USA PATRIOT Act - by reading from the Bill of Rights. It's simply beautiful when this sort of thing happens.
(For those who don't know, the USA PATRIOT Act is a piece of American anti-terrorism legislation which has become a byword for the trampling of civil liberties).
It cetainly seems an appropriate place to quote from...but since the Bill of Rights is only 10 amendments long, and there have only been another 17 amendments after that, it doesn't seem a very good source for things to read during a filibuster. I hope he has a Plan B.
ReplyDeleteWould it surprise anyone if a future amendment to the USA PATRIOT Act would make it a crime to cite the Bill of Rights when objecting to anti-terroroism measures?
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