Kyl Amendment to Strengthen Patriot Act

November 10, 2004 Open The Government

The largest expansion of federal powers since the USA PATRIOT Act died in the Senate Oct. 5, 2004. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ)’s amendment to the Senate intelligence reform bill, S. 2845, was ruled nongermane.

The amendment used some provisions from the Patriot Act II — failed legislation that was never introduced to Congress after a leaked draft in 2003 resulted in strong public backlash. Among other things, the Kyl amendment would have:

  • Expanded secret eavesdropping and search powers;
  • Infringed on the right to privacy for library, medical and other personal records;
  • Enabled the government to present secret requests for the deletion of classified information from information given to the defense in certain court cases;
  • Allowed for the secret use of information gathered through intelligence intercepts and searches in immigration cases; and
  • Made any crimes resulting in fatalities a death-eligible offense if it meets the USA PATRIOT Act’s overbroad definition of terrorism.

Many felt the amendment would have gone outside the scope of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations.

Source: text of the amendment

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