Terrorism and the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties In The Name Of National Security / Edition 3

by David Cole, James X. Dempsey, Nancy Talanian, Kit Gage

Overview

Tracing the history of government intrusions on Constitutional rights in response to threats from abroad, Cole and Dempsey warn that a society in which civil liberties are sacrificed in the name of national security is in fact less secure than one in which they are upheld.

A new chapter includes a discussion of domestic spying, preventive detention, the many court challenges to post–9/11 abuses, implementation of the PATRIOT ACT, and efforts to reestablish the checks and balances left behind in the rush to strengthen governmental powers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781565849396
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	03/01/2006
Edition description:	Revised and Updated
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

David Cole is the George Mitchell Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown UniversityLaw Center. He is also a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation. He is the author of No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System, the American Book Award–winning Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism, and The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable and is a co-author (with James Dempsey) of Terrorism and the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security and (with Jules Lobel) of Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror, both published by The New Press. He lives in Washington, D.C.

James X. Dempsey is executive director at the Center for Democracy and Technology and former assistant counsel to the U.S. House of Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Constitutional Rights.

Table of Contents

	Dedication	v
	Preface to the Second Edition	ix
	Foreword to the First Edition	xiii
1.	Introduction	1
Part I	Investigating First Amendment Activities: The FBI's Recent History
2.	The FBI's Investigation of Central American Activists, 1981 - 1985	21
3.	The Investigation and Attempted Deportation of the Los Angeles 8	35
4.	Intelligence Investigations from Amnesty International to Earth First!	49
Part II	Control vs. Discretion: The Limits of Legal Restrictions on the FBI's Authority
5.	Mechanisms for Control of the FBI	65
6.	Seventy-Five Years of Reform and Retrenchment	71
7.	Constitutional Limits--The Role of the Judiciary	91
Part III	The 1996 and 2001 Antiterrorism Acts: Curtailing Civil Liberties in the Name of Fighting Terrorism
8.	Prologue to the 1996 Antiterrorism Act	107
9.	The 1996 Antiterrorism Act's Central Provisions	117
10.	The Impact of the 1996 Act	127
11.	Fighting a War against Terrorism, at Home and Abroad	147
12.	Conclusion	177
Appendix	Law Professors' Petition	189

What People are Saying About This

Victor Navasky

[S]hould be read by anyone who cares about civil liberties. (Victor Navasky, Publisher and Editorial Director, The Nation)

John Conyers Jr.

I heartily recommend this book to all concerned with the protection of our traditional liberties.

Gore Vidal

A most useful book on a delicate subject.

Editorial Reviews

"In responding to the threat of terrorism, we must not trample upon the very freedoms that we are fighting for," say Cole and Dempsey, experts on civil rights law. Reminding readers that the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act, passed under the "influences of emotion and political posturing," was not only contrary to civil rights but also ineffective, they assert that a similar overreaction has occurred with the 2001 PATRIOT Act and conclude that there can be no trade-off between security and civil liberties. (Sept. 5) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly