I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3171
To provide for an appropriate review of recently enacted legislation relating 
to terrorism to assure that powers granted in it do not inappropriately 
undermine civil liberties. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2003
Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Mr. PAUL, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. GEORGE MILLER 
of California, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. 
SOLIS, Mr. HONDA, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mrs. JONES of 
Ohio, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. LEE, Mr. STARK, Mr. 
FILNER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. HINCHEY, and 
Mr. FARR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Select Committees on In-
telligence (Permanent Select), Education and the Workforce, Government 
Reform, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for an appropriate review of recently enacted 
legislation relating to terrorism to assure that powers 
granted in it do not inappropriately undermine civil lib-
erties.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Benjamin Franklin 
True Patriot Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Benjamin Franklin stated: ‘‘Those who 
would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little 
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safe-
ty.’’. 
(2) The First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, 
and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States 
Constitution were established to protect the civil 
rights and liberties of all Americans in perpetuity. 
(3) Federal policies adopted since September 
11, 2001, including provisions in the USA PA-
TRIOT Act (Public Law 107–56) and related execu-
tive orders, regulations, and actions threaten funda-
mental rights and liberties, including the First, 
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth 
Amendments to the Constitution by—
(A) authorizing the indefinite incarceration 
of noncitizens based on mere suspicion, and the 
indefinite incarceration of citizens designated by 
the President as ‘‘enemy combatants’’ without 
access to counsel or meaningful recourse to the 
Federal courts;
(B) limiting the traditional authority of 
Federal courts to curb law enforcement abuse 
of electronic surveillance in antiterrorism inves-
tigations and ordinary criminal investigations; 
(C) expanding the authority of Federal 
agents to conduct so-called ‘‘sneak and peek’’ or 
‘‘black bag’’ searches, in which the subject of 
the search warrant is unaware that his or her 
property has been searched; 
(D) granting law enforcement and intel-
ligence agencies broad access to personal med-
ical, financial, library, and education records 
with little if any judicial oversight; 
(E) 
chilling 
constitutionally 
protected 
speech through overbroad definitions of ‘‘ter-
rorism’’; 
(F) creating divisions between immigrant 
communities and the police that protect them 
by encouraging involvement of State and local 
police in enforcement of Federal immigration 
law; and the police that protect them; 
(G) permitting the FBI to conduct surveil-
lance of religious services, internet chatrooms, 
political demonstrations, and other public meet-
ings of any kind without having any evidence
that a crime has been or may be committed; 
and 
(H) mandating the closure of certain immi-
gration removal hearings, including denying 
judges the authority to reject stays of release 
where bond has been ordered and denying non-
citizens the right to a bond hearing. 
(4) Future legislation, such as legislation draft-
ed entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act 
(DSEA) or PATRIOT II, contains a multitude of 
new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence 
gathering powers many of which are not related to 
terrorism, and would severely dilute and undermine 
many basic constitutional rights as well as disturb 
our unique system of checks and balances by—
(A) diminishing personal privacy by remov-
ing important checks on government surveil-
lance authority; 
(B) reducing the accountability of govern-
ment to the public by increasing government se-
crecy; 
(C) expanding the definition of ‘‘terrorism’’ 
in a manner that threatens the constitutionally 
protected rights of Americans; and
(D) seriously eroding the right of all per-
sons to due process of law. 
(5) The above new and unprecedented powers 
pose threats to all Americans and particularly to the 
civil rights and liberties of the residents of our Na-
tion who are Arab, Muslim, or of South Asian de-
scent. 
SEC. 3. NINETY-DAY REVIEW PERIOD. 
Each provision of law, regulation, or other policy di-
rective listed in sections 4 through 10, and any amend-
ments made by that provision, shall cease to have effect 
90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. Dur-
ing this 90-day period, the Congress may, at the request 
of the President, hold hearings to determine whether a 
particular section should be removed from the list in sec-
tion 4. 
SEC. 4. PROVISIONS IN THE USA PATRIOT ACT. 
The provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act (Public 
Law 107–56) to which section 3 applies are: 
(1) Section 213, relating to ‘‘sneak and peak 
searches’’. 
(2) Section 214, relating to the use of pen reg-
isters for foreign intelligence purposes. 
(3) Section 215, relating to the obtaining by the 
Government of certain business records.
(4) Section 216, relating to the use of pen reg-
isters in criminal cases. 
(5) Section 218, relating to the Foreign Intel-
ligence Surveillance Act. 
(6) Section 411, relating to new grounds for de-
portation. 
(7) Section 412, relating to mandatory deten-
tion of certain aliens. 
(8) Section 505, relating to national security 
letters. 
(9) Section 507, relating to educational records. 
(10) Section 508, relating to collection and dis-
closure of individually identifiable information under 
the National Education Statistics Act of 1994. 
(11) Section 802, relating to the definition of 
domestic terrorism. 
SEC. 5. PROVISIONS OF AVIATION SECURITY ACT EXCLUD-
ING PERMANENT RESIDENT ALIENS FROM 
BEING BAGGAGE CHECKERS. 
Section 3 also applies to section 44935(e)(2)(A)(ii) 
of title 49, United States Code. 
SEC. 6. HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002 PROVISIONS. 
Section 3 also applies to the following provisions of 
the Homeland Security Act of 2002:
(1) Section 214, relating to an exemption from 
the Freedom of Information Act. 
(2) Section 871, relating to an exemption from 
the Federal Advisory Committee Act. 
SEC. 7. IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS PROVISIONS. 
Section 3 also applies to the following provisions of 
regulations: 
(1) The regulation found at 66 Federal Reg-
ister 48334–35 (September 20, 2001) relating to 
time held without charges. 
(2) The regulation found at 66 Federal Reg-
ister 54909–12 (October 31, 2001) relating to auto-
matic stays for the Government in immigration 
hearings. 
(3) The so-called ‘‘Creppy memo’’ that man-
dates closed immigration hearings in certain cases, 
and 67 Federal Register 54878 (August 26, 2002) 
relating to restructuring appeals. 
(4) Any legal opinion or regulation that in-
creases the powers of the Attorney General to au-
thorize State or local law enforcement officers to ex-
ercise Federal immigration enforcement beyond 
those given in 8 CFR Part 2 or 28 CFR Part 65. 
(5) The regulation found at 67 Federal Reg-
ister 52584 (August 12, 2002), relating to registra-
tion and monitoring of certain aliens, and all notices 
published pursuant to that regulation. 
SEC. 8. ATTORNEY-CLIENT MONITORING. 
Section 3 also applies to the regulation found at 66 
Federal Register 55063, relating to monitoring conversa-
tions between attorneys and clients. 
SEC. 9. SECRECY ORDERS. 
Section 3 also applies to the memorandum of Attor-
ney General Ashcroft dated October 12, 2001 and relating 
to the disclosure of documents under the Freedom of In-
formation Act. 
SEC. 10. THORNBURG GUIDELINES ON RELIGIOUS INSTITU-
TION SPYING. 
Section 3 also applies to any regulations having the 
effect of changing the effect of the Attorney General’s 
Guidelines on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise 
and Domestic Security/Terrorism Investigations approved 
by Attorney General Dick Thornburg for the Department 
of Justice on March 21, 1989.
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