Editorial: Putting limits on power

Friday, Oct. 1, 2004 | 8:53 a.m.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marreo in Manhattan ruled Wednesday against a portion of the USA Patriot Act that had been used by the FBI in December to obtain information about guests at Las Vegas hotels. We believe his ruling, suspended for 90 days to allow the Bush administration to appeal, was correct.

The FBI had been given the power to send "national security letters" to businesses, demanding private information about their customers. The letters could be sent any time the FBI, on its own, decided that the information was "relevant" to a terrorism investigation. The FBI was empowered to order recipients to maintain confidentiality. Customers and even the recipients' attorneys were not to be told.

The FBI's new power is in violation of the Fourth Amendment, because it bypasses judicial review, and of the First Amendment, because recipients of the letter are ordered to keep silent, Marreo found. The case that Marreo ruled on involved a challenge by an Internet service provider, which had been ordered to reveal personal information about its subscribers. The FBI used the power in Las Vegas to access information about thousands of visitors during December's build-up to New Year's Eve.

We believe the fight against terrorism can be waged without usurping constitutional rights. If the FBI has credible information about a terrorist threat, we're confident that personal information can be gathered quickly and efficiently the time-tested way -- by getting a judge's permission.