Conservative libertarians seek provision changes in Patriot Act

WASHINGTON – Conservative libertarians launched a campaign Tuesday to persuade President Bush and Congress to fix sections of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act that they say intrude on privacy and harm civil liberties.

Long wary of the act’s enhanced police powers, the conservatives announced they had formed the organization Patriots for Checks and Balances with the liberal American Civil Liberties Union in time for hearings in the Republican-controlled Congress next month on whether it should renew 16 Patriot Act provisions that expire at year’s end.

At a news conference Tuesday, ACLU Washington director Laura Murphy underscored the importance of raising the profile in the debate of such prominent conservatives as Grover Norquist, of Taxpayers United; David Keene, of the American Conservative Union; and Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation.

Bush and new Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have said in recent speeches that one of their priorities this year is to win congressional renewal of all expiring sections of the controversial anti-terrorism law, enacted just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Bob Barr, the group’s chair and a former Republican representative from Georgia who voted for the act in 2001, said the sunsetting of the provisions and the hearings in the House and Senate provide a “unique opportunity” to add checks and balances to the act.