P. Williams writes in her essay, that the war on terror is a new type of a war. What’s new about it, how is it different from traditional wars? The war on terror is a new type of war in the fact that it is a war against a civilian enemy (terrorists) rather than a military enemy (the military of other countries). Since this war is against a civilian enemy, this means that it is hard to determine who exactly the enemy is, since they look and act like every day civilians. On top of this, most acts that are done by the government in order to try to catch terrorists by surprise tends to violate the rights of the civilians who aren’t terrorists, which makes things difficult for both the government to deal with this and for regular people to live with their liberties without some sort of compromise going on. In the case of traditional wars, this is something that is not done. Last but not least, since the amount of terrorists is always unknown due to them blending with everyday civilians, this is a war that can last forever, which is different from traditional wars since the enemy country can be captured or surrender. Stopping one terrorist or one terrorist organization doesn’t stop others from doing what they want to do. It’s a battle of the mind rather than a direct battle of might. It’s also potentially possible for the government to abuse this idea in order to do what they want to the civilians that live within their country.
In what ways does the “Roving Wiretaps” of the Patriot Act seem to violate the Bill of Rights? Which amendment(s) does it seem to violate and why? The ways in which Roving Wiretaps of the Patriot Act violate the Bill of Rights is through violating the Fourth Amendment, which states that government officials require receiving a warrant in order to search or seize property. A wiretap, the ability for a government official to listen to a civilian’s calls made through some form of communication device, is also something that requires a warrant to do. The reason why the Roving Wiretap violates the Fourth Amendment is because Roving Wiretaps make it so that a government official only needs one warrant in order listen into a civilian’s conversations across multiple communication devices. This basically makes it so that the government official is bypassing the warrant requirement that is necessary in order to wiretap a communication device in the first place. This can also cause anyone who interacts with a suspect in a casual manner to have their privacy be violated.
What about “Sneek and Peek” Warrants? The ways in which “Sneak and Peek” Warrants of the Patriot Act violate the Bill of Rights is through violating the Fourth Amendment, which states that government officials require the person whose house they wish to search or someone whom the house owner trusts to be within the house when the search is conducted. The reason why “Sneak and Peak” Warrants violate the fourth amendment is because it essentially allows government officials to search a suspect’s house in secret. (meaning that the house owner nor somebody they trust is currently within the house and it is empty). This also means that potential abuses by the government are allowed to occur, like the potential planting of evidence within the house by the cops while no one is there, which could allow the cops to convict someone due to faulty evidence that can’t be proven as faulty.
