Congressman, Professor Join In Opposition To Patriot Act

Associated Press | December 28 2004

BOISE - Republican US Representative Butch Otter and a progressive University of Idaho law professor have co-written a law article critical of the Patriot Act.

Otter's co-author is professor Elizabeth Brandt. She's a longtime American Civil Liberties Union activist who served on the organization's national board for a decade.

While the two may disagree on other points, they're on the same side when it comes to keeping the government out of people's private lives.

The Patriot Act expanded the powers of law enforcement in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

But Otter and Brandt say the Patriot Act goes too far. They say it allows government to infringe on people's rights in much the same way that British troops oppressed American colonists before the American Revolution.

Their article appears in the February edition of the Notre Dame Journal of Law.