Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich Praises Court Ruling Against Patriot Act

Democratic candidate for president and member of Congress Dennis Kucinich has issued a statement calling a recent court ruling that struck down key elements of the Patriot Act: "A major victory for the U.S. constitution and the civil liberties of Americans, and a stunning rebuke of the Bush Administration's abuse of power and of the Congress that permitted and reauthorized such abuses."

As a member of Congress Kucinich has been an outspoke opponent of the Patriot Act since the Act's inception in 2001. According a statement issued by his campaign, Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate seeking the presidency that voted against the original Patriot Act and also voted against last year's reauthorization of the Act by congress. Kucinich was quoted as saying that the ruling proved that no government official or agency is above the law.

New York U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero struck down parts of the Patriot Act related to controversial "national security letters" that ordered telephone and Internet companies to turn over private customer information without notifying the customers in question. The use of these letters required no court approval. The Patriot Act also made it illegal for the companies to even acknowledge receiving a national security letter.

Kucinich used the opportunity to point out that some of the other Democratic candidates had voted for the Patriot Act. "Congress passed an unconstitutional and unconscionable law in 2001, and then, failing to recognize its mistake, re-authorized the law last year," he said. "What makes this situation even more dumbfounding is that five Democrats who voted in the U.S. Senate to support that unconstitutional law are now asking to be elected President. If my colleagues had made the right decision in 2001 and in 2006, they would be in a better position today to claim they have the leadership, experience, and wisdom to be President. Their records, however, on this and other issues, such as the war in Iraq, tell a very different story."

Civil rights groups across the nation also celebrated the verdict. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement praising the decision. ACLU staff attorney Melissa Goodman has this to day about the case: ""As the court recognized, there must be real, meaningful judicial checks on the exercise of executive power. Without oversight, there is nothing to stop the government from engaging in broad fishing expeditions, or targeting people for the wrong reasons, and then gagging Americans from ever speaking out against potential abuses of this intrusive surveillance power."