Repeal the Patriot Act

The USA PATRIOT Act and related antiterrorism legislation is Osama's dream come true and it should be the worst nightmare of any true American patriot!

~ ~ ~ Welcome! ~ ~ ~

The Nevada Campaign to Defeat the Patriot Act (NCDPA) is a non-partisan group of organizations and individuals who seek to pass resolutions affirming the Bill of Rights and opposing the USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56) and related antiterrorism legislation in the various governmental bodies within the state of Nevada.

We are currently seeking endorsements of our resolution from non-profit organizations, for-profit companies as well as individuals. Because this sweeping legislation affects everyone anyone may endorse our resolution without regard to voter status, length of residency, age, or citizenship. 

Although, the Patriot Act and related legislation are federal laws their effects can be felt in our communities in several ways. The NCDPA draft resolution does six things to mitigate the potentially undesirable local impacts resulting from implementation of these laws:

1. The resolution affirms the Bill of Rights and the US and Nevada Constitutions.

2. It affirms the communities commitment to oppose racial profiling and uphold Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS 289.820) which prohibit the use of "race, ethnicity or national origin of a person as a factor in initiating action" on the part of law enforcement unless it is "part of an identifying description of a specific suspect for a specific crime."

3. It insures that local resources are employed only for criminal investigations that rise to constitutional evidentiary standards of probable cause. It is important that Sparks sets clear limits, in advance, on what types of federal activities its police will participate in, so that local police support only those activities that meet the standards of our federal and state constitutions. For example, over the 2004 New Years' celebration in Las Vegas the FBI appropriated the Metro Police to assist in the collection of personal information on over 300,000 residents and tourists without any warrant or suspicion of wrongdoing. 

4. It insures that local law enforcement do not become de-facto immigration agents. Efforts to involve local police in enforcement of immigration law will overburden already scarce resources and undermine already fragile community relations. It drives a wedge between law enforcement and the immigrant communities they serve. Hundreds of law enforcement agencies, organizations, and officers support this limitation. (See the controversy surrounding the pending CLEAR Act, H.R.2671, for more.)

5. It protects against chilling free speech by prohibiting the collection and maintenance "of information about the political, religious, or social views, . . . or the activities of any individual, group, association, organization, corporation, business, or partnership, unless the information directly relates to an investigation of criminal activities based on probable cause."

6. And finally the resolution sends a message to our congressional delegation that they should "repeal any provision of the USA PATRIOT Act or other measures that infringe on civil liberties."

Not sure how the USA PATRIOT Act affects you, your family, your organization, your company or your children's future?

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

--Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 1816