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The Patriot Act’s organized opposition

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There’s always been a rather eccentric group of opponents for Bush’s Patriot Act, particularly among old-school conservatives who are uncomfortable with sweeping new powers for the federal government.

With this in mind, I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that the opponents are creating a new organizational network with an interesting membership list.

Chaired by former Rep. Bob Barr, Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, a national network of organizations from across the political spectrum, will begin its educational efforts today in Washington.

The group plans to teach Americans about provisions of the Patriot Act that are supposedly out of line with the Constitution and violate Fourth Amendment freedoms, including the right to privacy.

Other “patriots” besides the Georgia Republican include Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Laura Murphy, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union; Paul Weyrich, chairman and chief executive officer of the Free Congress Foundation; and John Snyder of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Among other things, the group will call on President Bush to reconsider his unqualified endorsement of the Patriot Act, and will seek congressional review of the most intrusive, unchecked provisions of the act.

Keep in mind, Republican support for the Patriot Act has always been rather suspect. Bush campaign’s chairman, Marc Racicot, endorsed changes to the law when addressing a group of Arab Americans in 2003; former GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey has said the law denies Americans’ “fundamental liberties”; and House Judiciary Committee James Sensenbrenner, who voted for the Patriot Act, said the law would be reauthorized without a thorough re-examination “over [his] dead body.”

This new “Patriots” network is likely to have a significant impact as well. Particularly on the right, names like Barr, Norquist, and Weyrich mean something, and those are the types whose calls get returned by most of the House Republican caucus. With significant Dem skepticism about some aspects of the law, coupled by far-right concerns about government power, this law may be poised for some major revisions — whether Bush likes it or not.