The Impact of Terrorism Enforcement on Individual Rights

The Impact of Terrorism Enforce handst on Individual Rights Christine Gontarz Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge Campus ADJ100 December 2, 2011 Professor George DeHarde Table of confine Introduction3 Terrorism and the counterbalance Amendment5 earliest History7 The extraneous and revolution identification numbers of 17987 Habeas Corpus perso solid ground of 18638 populace struggle I History9 Espionage and Sedition figures of 1917 and 19189 Schenck v. US -9 Debs v. US10 World War II History11 unknown quantity Registration (Smith) Act of 194011 Japanese-American Internment Executive erect 9066 of 194211The History of Today12 Anti terrorist act and Effective final stage Penalty Act of 199612 U. S. A nationalist Act 200113 Conclusion15 Works Cited17 Introduction During times of high evil, terrorist act, struggle, and national crisis, citizens argon willing to trade receivable process for a hold backion of separate practiceds. At the heart of our person rights are the initial go Amendments of the joined relegates Constitution, the Bill of Rights. Although all the Amendments of the Bill of Rights were written to be of pair importance, to some(prenominal) Americans the most treasured is the first-class honours degree Amendment. social intercourse shall make no jurisprudence respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the muckle peaceably to assemble, and to appeal the G everyplacenment for a redress of grievances. The scratch line Amendment to the U. S. Constitution Simply stated, the FirstAmendment guarantees us the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. By examining the memorial of the unite States, there subscribe to been times when incidents of crime, terrorism, terrorism threats, war, and national crisis sustain affected the rights of the people of the unify States.There retain been a ctions and reactions to those threats by the political sympathies. Restrictions were placed on citizens by limiting their rights specifically the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Initially, the people of the unify States understood the reasoning behind these limitations however, as time went by, many felt the need to speak out about(predicate) the injustices ca utilize by the politics and the restrictions of the freedoms of the people.Although the additional amendments in the Bill of Rights are of check importance, it is the purpose of this paper to define examples of how the administration has violated a the basic rights of the First Amendment during a presence or threat of terrorism in the fall in States. Terrorism and the First Amendment Freedom, as Thomas Jefferson wrote in the promulgation of Independence, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are gift by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among th ese are life, liberty and the hobbyhorse of happiness. The Declaration of Independence is a God-given right provided to fall in States citizens. By declaring its liberty from with child(p) Britain and signing the Declaration of Independence, the telling of the original thirteen colonies took its first steps to ensure its freedom from King George and British rule. Their goal, self-government and equal rights for the people (Fallon 14). It is because of British tyrannical rule that the fall in States Constitution was written.The fall in States Constitution defined the rights of the government of the thirteen original colonies, but it was not until the Federalists and Anti-Federalists resolved their differences and adopted the Bill of Rights in 1791 that the people of the United States had the rights and freedoms they so desired to build this country. More than two hundred age later, on September 11, 2001, the United States was targeted by terrorists. This day is marked by atr ocities beyond imagination. It is also on this day that many people of this generation feel out that the individual rights that our forefathers worked to provide confuse been changed forever.The attacks of September 11th have caused the freedoms outlined in the Bill of Rights to be restricted by the enforcement of government rules and regulations First Amendment rights limiting the freedom of speech, Fourth Amendment rights of illegal attempt and seizure, and Fourteenth Amendment rights of due process come to mind (although others feel that the Fifth and Sixth Amendments have also been affected). There are specific examples in United States history where the effects of terrorism enforcement have impinged individual rights.In order to relate the blow of government actions on individual rights for the sake of national security, in the progress to of terrorism, terrorism must be defined. According to the FBI, there is no mavin comment that is universally accepted by everyone (Of fice of Public Affairs iv). Their definition of terrorism from the Code of Federal Regulations can be defined as the un practice of lawful use of force and violence once against persons or property to constrain or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any share thereof, in hike upance of political or social objectives (28 C.F. R. Section 0. 85). By ob function a chronological history of the United States there is turn out of terrorism since the beginning of written history. References in the Bible refer to the groom of entire groups of people by eliminating the city of Jericho (Joshua 6. 1-27) . There are examples of terrorism during Greek and Roman times when the first known terror organization, the Zealots of Judea, form campaigns and carried out assassinations of Roman occupation forces and Jews whom they felt collaborated with the Romans. (Early History of Terrorism) Although earlier instances of terrorism impacted the rights of individuals, it was not until t he adoption of the Bill of Rights that there was recourse that could be taken by the people. It was then that citizens of the United States could declare that their individual rights were violated. Early History The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 From 1789 through 1799, during the french Revolution, the United States was coerce to declare a policy of neutrality to avoid becoming heterogeneous in European conflicts and universe dragged into another war.Because of an impending fear of war with France and a fear that criticism of the government was destine to topple the Constitution, (Willis 5) the Federalist-dominated Congress of President John Adams enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 (Office of the Historian). Consisting of four acts, they introduced laws intended to abate political emulation from Anti-Federalists. By enacting these laws, Adams was working to shield the United States from the French enemy and to hold dear the United States from opposition groups of A nti-Federalists.The four laws consisted of the Naturalization Act which raised the residency period of aliens from five to fourteen years, the Alien Act of 1798 which enabled the president to deport any alien (even during peacetime) if they were considered jeopardyous to the safety of the US. The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 enabled wartime grasp, imprisonment, or deportation of any alien for simply being from an enemy country. The last act, The Sedition Act make it a crime to oppose any measure or measures of the government of the US. It also disallow writing, printing, uttering, or publishing any false, scandalous, and malicious writing or books against the government of the US. It is evident that Sedition Act was the most controversial and most seriously punishable of the acts. Committing an offense against the Sedition Act was punishable by fines up the $5,000 and up to five years in prison and a second offenses were charged with a $2,000 fine and up to two years in tuck in.M ost of those punished under the Sedition Act were journalists and politicians who aligned themselves with the Anti-Federalist fellowship or the Jeffersonian Republicans (Willis 7). The grandson of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Bache who was the erupt and editor of the Philadelphia normal Advertiser, was the first to be charged under the Sedition Act because of his Anti-Federalist kind against John Adams and the Federalist party. Habeas Corpus Act of 1863 The presidency of Abraham capital of Nebraska can best(p) be described as a presidency of wartime.Just twelve hours by and byward the president was elected, Major Robert Anderson sent Lincoln a dispatch requesting reinforcements of 20 thousand men to secure Fort Sumter from Confederate attack (Dirck 20) . It was Lincoln who set the tone for wartime presidents and he took full advantage of this power. During the height of the urbane War, Lincoln ordered a writ suspending Habeas Corpus. Lincolns old focus by ordering the writ was to quell political opposition from pro-Confederate sympathizers.He justified his decision by stating Even in much(prenominal) a sequel, would not the official oath be broken, if the government should be weakenn, when it was believed that do by the single law, would tend to preserve it? (Dirck 25) referring to (Lincoln) . Lincoln believed that public safety was the stand behind his decision. With public safety in mind, Lincoln authorized Winfield Scott to arrest anyone in an insurrection against the laws of the United States. (Dirck 25) referring to (Symonds) World War I HistoryEspionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918 Once again the United States and its people were preoccupied with war. In April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany and fears of espionage, anarchist activities, and the threat of terrorism loomed over the heads of the United States government. By establishing the Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918, the government require th e public from openly demonstrating or passing forth any information deemed to be pernicious to the military or the government during a time of war.Woodrow Wilson even gave the postmaster rights to restrict distribution of mail and documents that could be construed as harmful to the military of the United States . These offenses could be punishable by death. Because of the fear of harm to the nation and its citizens, the mark and Senate almost passed the bill without any debate whatsoever even though the bill trampled on the freedom of speech and freedom of the press (Willis 14) . Schenck v. US Led by Oliver Wendell Holmes, this would be the first flake in which the arrogant Court pass on down a ruling that constituted when the United States government could limit speech.CharlesSchenck, the general secretary of the Socialist party in Philadelphia was arrested for the distribution of political propaganda. These leaflets, which referenced the clause of the Thirteenth Amendment f orbidding unwilling servitude, were directed at men who were drafted upon the passage of the Selective Service Act. Schenck promote draftees to Assert Your Rights, and that the people needed to stand up to the government for debut the war. The government claimed that these flyers contained false statements that could ultimately interfere with the effort to win the war.It was during this case that Oliver Wendell Holmes coined his most memorable rationale for the decision of the Supreme Court to be upheld in the Schenck case, noting that The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and exemplify danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. It is a question of proximity and degree. Debs v. US Eugene Debs, a founder of the Socialist Party in 1901 and a strong opponent to the Great War, was no stranger to speaking his mind and being imprisoned because of his actions.Debs was sentenced to jail for his role as leader of a nationwide boycott of involving the Pullman castling Car Company in 1894. After serving a two-year prison sentence, Debs held a Sunday afternoon picnic in Canton, Ohio. During his speech, Debs, wording his words carefully for fear of being prosecuted by the government for his right to free expression, encouraged the crowd to turn their backs on the Republican and egalitarian Party and fight for a cause (Debs) . Debs was arrested for violating the Espionage Act and was accused of manipulate with the recruiting services of the United States.He served a ten-year sentence for his speech. World War II History Alien Registration (Smith) Act of 1940 Representative Howard W. Smith introduced the Alien Registration Act of 1940. This act required aliens to register with the government of the United States within four months of their arrival in the United States. Although the prior acts were make during times of war, th e Alien Registration Act was an act proposed and adopted during peacetime (Willis 26-27) . The main(prenominal) objective of the act was to thwart any attempt by the American Communist Party to weaken the government of the United States.This act made it illegal to interfere with the loyalty of military personnel, to teach to violently cut back the United States government, or to conspire to commit or to commit prohibited acts. The act also stated that the government could confiscate genuines using the search warrant provision and that punishment of these offenses could contribute in a execration of up to ten years in prison and a ten thousand dollar fine. In 1948, Harry Truman invoked this act to contain Soviet fundingers and had eleven leaders of the Communist Party U.S. A. indicted for violations of the Smith Act. During the prosecution of the case of Dennis v. United States, the government used the works of KarlMarx to prove that the eleven men violated the Alien Registra tion Act stating that they privately planned to overthrow the government of the United States. Japanese-American Internment Executive Order 9066 of 1942 Eleven weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Executive Order 9066 was sign by Franklin Roosevelt. Relocation Centers were set up across the United States.Approximately 110,000 Japanese-Americans were trammel to no more than an American version of Hitlers concentration camps. Japanese-Americans serving in the military were categorized as enemy aliens and discharged from the build up forces of the United States. Minoru Yasui was the first citizen to bring a case before the government during the time of the Internment. Yasui was denied active duty service by the United States military. Yasui measuredly violated curfew orders in order to be arrested.His case, although initially based on a curfew law was brought to appeal and a unanimous conviction was handed down to Yasui claiming that his racial attachments to his Japa nese roots posed a danger of espionage to the American people (Baker and Stack 66-68) . The History of Today Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, the nation was traumatized by such a deplorable act of domestic terrorism. An overpower public fear guided the reactions of United States and the government set limitations of individual rights to protect its people.One week after the Oklahoma City bombing, President Clinton and members of Congress swiftly approved the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty of 1996 (AEDPA). First Amendment rights were again affected. By allowing the Secretary of State to selectively define its meaning of material support to foreign organizations, citizens were guilty by association based on the purpose of their monetary contributions (Brown et al. 17-20) . The belief was that monetary and logistical contributions to an organization showed support for that organization. This was enough ammuniti on for the government to hold citizens in violation of the AEDPA.In a case brought against the Attorney General by the Humanitarian Law count on (HLP), the HLP challenged the ruling that their humanitarianism, peacekeeping training, and support of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was in violation of the constitutionality of the material support statute. The PKK was determined to be a terrorist organization. By supporting a terrorist organization, the HLP could have faced extensive prison sentences if they had continued to support their accusation by providing monetary and logistical contributions even though the contributions were to support undisturbed acts.Eventually the HLP ceased in their support of the PKK. U. S. A patriot Act 2001 With the attack of the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the takeover of Flight 93, the scope of terrorism in the United States had changed since even the bombings in OklahomaCity. Once thought to be a crisis of foreign countries, the United States was now faced with a new-made brand of terrorist attacks unlike ever before. As a result, acts aimed at preventing further attacks and protecting the security of society were invoked.The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act), was adopted in October 2001 to assist the government in gaining information on future terror attacks. Many feel that since the adoption of the PATRIOT Act, First Amendment rights have been violated in an unprecedented way. Not only does the government have the ability to limit the size and nature of demonstrations, conduct racial profiling, but they also may limit the information which can be publicized to the citizens of the United States claiming national security interests. The National Archives and Records memorial tablet states that the number of classification actions by the Executive Branch rose 14 percent in 2002 over 2001 and declassification activi ty fell to its lowest train in seven years. (Posner 220) Since September 11, Arab, Muslim, and South Asian populations of the United States have been profiled based on skin color and other physical characteristics. The government has the ability to stop, interrogate and detain individuals without criminal charge on the tooshie of their national origin, ethnicity and religion. (American Civil Liberties Union 1) . By looking at the people who were rounded up just after September 11, it is evident that racial profiling based on religion and ethnicity had taken place by the Department of Justice a clear violation of the First Amendment. In a more recent incident in The Washington channel on October 2008, Maryland State Police revealed that as a result of surveillance operations, the names of fifty-three nonviolent activists had been placed into an unknown national database used for the purpose of tracking terrorist suspects.The judgment by the Maryland State Police to include th e activists names in the terrorist database was met with disapproval and was criticized by senators noting that the law enforcement officials were oblivious to their violation of the activists rights of free expression and association. (Rein, Lisa A1) Conclusion Through diachronic records, it is evident the intent of the government in times of war is to protect its citizens and prevent aggression on the homeland.The punishment and imprisonment of citizens for First Amendment violations are based on situations when governing bodies of the United States felt threatened by acts of anarchy, Communism, terrorism, or war. In most instances, the government has been proactive by crippled contrary opinions from opposing parties or seeking peacetime acts as a precautional measure. At other times, they have been reactive by enacting laws after terrorist attacks . In either case, they have adopted rules and laws based upon the fear of the people and the stripe of potential attacks.Their f ears have limited free speech, free assembly, free press, and have punished those for freedom of religion. Historically, as time went by and threats declined, the people of the United States became more conscious of the limitations the government had set forth. In the referenced laws and actions of this paper, court cases brought to the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of First Amendment limitations have been paramount in the repeal or retraction of these acts. The decisions in these cases prove that there is a need for a balance between individual freedoms and protection of the people.