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2001 Patriot Act echoes 1798 Alien Act
Constitution Society via politechbot ^ | Jon Roland <jon.roland@constitution.org>

Posted on 11/21/2001 8:16:53 PM PST by Sir Gawain

Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 18:22:50 -0600
From: Jon Roland  <jon.roland@constitution.org>
Subject: 2001 Patriot Act echoes 1798 Alien Act

2001 Patriot Act echoes 1798 Alien Act

The controversy arising from the hastily-passed "USA Patriot" Act and
associated presidential executive orders strongly resembles that which arose
from the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts, especially the Alien Act of June 25,
1798,[1] which tried to grant to the president, then John Adams, the
authority to order foreign nationals he deemed "dangerous" to depart, to
imprison them if they did not, to forcibly deport them, to imprison them if
they returned, and to disable their rights to become citizens. The Act was
targeted on French nationals, because France was attacking U.S. shipping,
and Irish nationals, because the Irish were engaged in a fight for
independence from Britain. The Act was, however, used to persecute many
would-be citizens who criticized the Adams administration, as was the
Sedition Act,[2] which was used to persecute the editors and publishers of
opposition newspapers such as the Philadelphia Aurora. The acts encouraged a
reign of terror against critics, including Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison, who responded with such measures as the Kentucky[3] and Virginia[4]
Resolutions of 1798, the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799,[5] and the Virginia
Report of 1799,[6] which defined the "Doctrine of '98" and led to the defeat
of John Adams and election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800, in what became
called the "Revolution of 1800", and many considered that to settle the
issue that the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional.[7]

But a Sedition Act was again adopted May 16, 1918, during WWI,[8] making it
a crime to criticize the government or Constitution of the United States.
During the Red Scare of 1919-20 U.S. Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer and
his special assistant, J. Edgar Hoover, used the Sedition Act and the
Espionage Act of 1917 to persecute leftist reformers, arresting more than
1500 for disloyalty, although most of them were eventually released.
However, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Mollie Steimer, and 245 other
persons were deported to Russia.

When President Lincoln tried civilians in military courts during the 1861-65
War of Secession, the Supreme Court held, in Ex Parte Milligan 71 U.S. 2
(1866): "Those great and good men foresaw that troublous times would arise,
when rulers and people would become restive under restraint, and seek by
sharp and decisive measures to accomplish ends deemed just and proper; and
that the principles of constitutional liberty would be in peril, unless
established by irrepealable law. The history of the world had taught them
that what was done in the past might be attempted in the future. The
Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in
war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes
of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving
more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that
any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of
government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchy or despotism...."[9]

The boundary of when persons on U.S. territory could be tried by military
courts under the Articles of War rather than as criminals was tested in the
Supreme Court on a writ of habeas corpus in Ex Parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1
(1942),[10] which upheld military prosecution of 7 German spies or saboteurs
who had entered U.S. territory covertly.

The issue of extended detention of persons of foreign descent was decided in
the Korematsu case, which affirmed the detention of a Japanese-American who
protested the detention of Japanese Americans, although he was later found
not guilty at the district court level. This case is now generally
considered an embarrassment for U.S. case law, although it has not been
overturned.

These and other precedents support full due process rights for foreign
nationals who are in the United States legally, leave a grey area for
foreign nationals here illegally or legally but through fraud.

[1] http://www.constitution.org/rf/alien_1798.htm

[2] http://www.constitution.org/rf/sedition_1798.htm

[3] http://www.constitution.org/rf/kr_1798.htm

[4] http://www.constitution.org/rf/vr_1798.htm

[5] http://www.constitution.org/cons/kent1799.htm

[6] http://www.constitution.org/rf/vr_1799.htm

[7] See Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, Book 3, Ch. 27, §
1288-9, http://www.constitution.org/js/js_327.htm

[8] http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1918/usspy.html

[9] http://www.constitution.org/ussc/071-002a.htm

[10] http://www.constitution.org/ussc/317-001a.htm


TOPICS: Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 11/21/2001 8:16:53 PM PST by Sir Gawain
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To: tex-oma; MadameAxe; tpaine; fod; Mercuria
ping
2 posted on 11/21/2001 8:18:38 PM PST by Sir Gawain
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To: sirgawain
Quote of the Day by deadhead
3 posted on 11/21/2001 8:40:41 PM PST by RJayneJ
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To: sirgawain
Two different 1798 acts, the Alien Act and the Sedition Act. The Sedition Act was repealed by the Congress elected in 1800 (and some of the fines were reimbursed by Congress); the Alien Act was never repealed, but was amended (beefed up) during WWI.
4 posted on 11/21/2001 8:42:55 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
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To: sirgawain
bling bling and turkey you funky playa hata. Props to my peeps. Whoever they are.
5 posted on 11/21/2001 9:16:06 PM PST by nunya bidness
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To: nunya bidness
H.R.3162 PATRIOT ACT{ YOUR NEW- POLICESTATE- LOOK FOR YOUR SELF
6 posted on 11/26/2001 9:29:09 AM PST by expose
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