Thirteen leading experts confront the justice department's assault on civil liberties. To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists.—Attorney General John Ashcroft In the wake of September 11, John Ashcroft's Justice Department has presided over an unprecedented assault on the civil liberties established in the Bill of Rights. Enacted in haste and, at times, in partial secrecy, the legislation and orders have not been carefully examined, and their implications are only now beginning to surface. Not since the internment of Japanese-Americans during the 1940s have we witnessed such abridgement of American rights. Some of the fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks; from the Associated Press, September 5, 2002: &$149; Freedom from Unreasonable Searches—Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.
