“Similar to our current Attorney General [John Ashcroft], Mr. Meese chose to malign librarians rather than address the real and substantive concerns of millions of Americans and members of Congress,” Hayden responded, adding, “The ALA stands ready to openly discuss and debate the fundamental concerns at stake as we seek to balance national security concerns with the constitutional protections that make this country a beacon for freedom and democracy.” On September 26 the North Dakota Library Association became the 47th state library group to issue a resolution expressing similar concerns.
The Today Show segment pitted Meese—whose namesake Meese Commission issued a still-controversial report in 1986 condemning as pornographic most sexually explicit images—against American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen, who asserted, “It’s not only librarians and civil libertarians, but many members of Congress, including conservative Republicans [who] are saying that this law went too far too fast.” Meese responded, “There are no problems with this law. It’s only misstatements by people such as we’ve heard this morning in ignorance of the facts that is misleading some congressmen to believe there's a problem here.”
Ironically, a bill introduced in September would remove the judicial oversight of probes into individuals’ records—which Meese stressed as reassurance that investigations under the Patriot Act “require judicial scrutiny before anything can be done.” Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) introduced the Antiterrorism Tools Enhancement Act (H.R. 3037) September 9, which, if enacted, would enable the Attorney General’s Office to issue an administrative subpoena to “compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses, and require the production of any records (including books, papers, documents, electronic data, and other tangible things that constitute or contain evidence)” during a terrorism investigation. That same day, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) introduced the Pretrial Detention and Lifetime Supervision of Terrorists Act (H.R. 3040), whose provisions include expanding the definition of domestic terrorism to include participation in any demonstration that turns violent.
Posted October 6, 2003.