PATRIOT ACT Specter criticizes part of new law

Monitoring what people read has a chilling effect on freedom, Specter said.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Arlen Specter blasted part of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act as none of the government's business, and he said he wants to step up congressional oversight of the U.S. Justice Department.
At issue is a provision of the act that gives authorities access to records of what people check out from libraries or buy from bookstores. It was challenged this week in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and several Islamic groups.
"I don't think that's any of the government's business," Specter said Friday. "I don't think what people read is subject to inquiry. What difference does that make? It has a chilling effect on fundamental freedom of activity."
Specter, R-Pa., voted to create the USA Patriot Act, which greatly expanded the government's surveillance and detention powers, in the weeks immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Detaining suspects
The Justice Department has repeatedly defended the Patriot Act as a necessary tool to stop terrorist attacks on Americans. It is seeking to expand the law to let the government hold more suspects indefinitely and extend the death penalty to more people accused of terrorist crimes.
But Specter, a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he has questioned Attorney General John Ashcroft "very closely" about detained immigrants -- particularly those whose green card status may be in question.
"I do not think we've had enough oversight of the Department of Justice," Specter said.
A Democrat who is seeking to retire Specter in next year's U.S. Senate election is also pushing to curtail the Justice Department's powers by stripping the Patriot Act of some of its secrecy.
Earlier this summer, Rep. Joseph Hoeffel, D-Pa., introduced legislation that would force the agency to regularly disclose limited surveillance information and the procedures of a federal court that issues secret warrants for searches and wiretaps.
The bill is awaiting legislative action.