Anna Paulina Luna wants to ‘strip the deep state’ of Patriot Act surveillance tools

Anna Paulina Luna. Image via Twitter.

U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has filed legislation to repeal the Patriot Act, a post-9/11 law that expanded government surveillance.

While it’s more commonly called the Patriot Act, the measure passed by Congress on Oct. 25, 2001, and signed by former President George W. Bush the next day is officially named the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, or USA Patriot Act.

Among other provisions, the Act significantly expanded government authorization to surveillance both domestically and internationally, including through wiretaps.

Supporters at the time argued that expanding surveillance capabilities — along with increased information sharing, business record access and warrantless searches in certain situations — was necessary to prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. But critics lamented that the law allowed the government to spy on its own citizens without proper oversight and checks and balances on that power.

Luna is echoing those concerns, and calling for an end to mass surveillance under the Patriot Act.

“For over two decades, rogue actors within our U.S. intelligence agencies have used the Patriot Act to create the most sophisticated, unaccountable surveillance apparatus in the Western world,” Luna said.

“My legislation will strip the deep state of these tools and protect every American’s fourth amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. It’s past time to (rein) in our intelligence agencies and restore the right to privacy. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is using ‘security’ as an excuse to erode your freedom.”

Luna’s attention to the issue puts her in line with some individuals and organizations with which she would not typically be aligned, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

“When the Patriot Act was passed in 2001, many congressional representatives complained that they didn’t have time to read the bill before they were forced to vote on it, amid intimations from the Bush administration that those who voted ‘no’ would be held responsible for further attacks,” the ACLU writes on its website.

The group is calling for reforms, particularly to Section 215 of the Act, which has since expired.

And when the Patriot Act was first passed in October 2001, it was a Democrat who was the lone ‘no’ vote in the Senate: then-U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold. In 2021, Feingold authored an op-ed in The Nation describing his reasoning.

“I voted against the Patriot Act because of the cost it was asking the American people to pay in the form of their civil rights, particularly their privacy rights and especially for people of color. My fears on this front have come to pass over the past 20 years, and our country has yet to fully reckon with the discriminatory impact of the Patriot Act on communities of color,” he wrote.

Luna is calling her measure to repeal the Patriot Act the “American Privacy Restoration Act.”

Whether Luna’s effort will gain any traction remains to be seen, but response on social media after she announced the measure was overwhelmingly positive, with dozens of thanks and thumbs up emojis. A few offered caution though.

“I’m sure they’ve already branched it out into all of the AI on our phones and computers and there will be no end to it,” one commenter wrote. Another added that “it’s impossible to walk back the damage already done to privacy.”