The agents would also be able to remove property without fully inventorying it. It could be months before the inventories were submitted to property owners. He claims that these insidious provisions would then be used by other law-enforcement agents for a wider array of searches. Agents without search warrants could enter unoccupied houses and offices and search, copy, or seize information, even on computer hard drives. Whether the liberal Democrat Jackson-Lee and the conservative Republican Barr succeed in thwarting MAPA, this particular struggle on behalf of civil liberties highlights a particularly menacing threat to civil liberties, Barr says, given the present balance of power in Washington between Republicans and Democrats.
Republicans are always strong law and order advocates.
Despite the wide streak of libertarianism in their ranks, they are suckers for FBI claims that such instrumentalities as MAPA are necessary in the war against drugs and terrorism. Democrats, whether soft on law and order or libertarian regarding law enforcement, are easily manipulated by their guy in the White House. The consequence is that Justice Department officials intent on making their job of apprehending criminals easier, are having an easier time passing laws that may make ordinary Americans' lives less easy. If the guy next door is their target, lucky him. And whatever is taken from which home, only the feds will know.