Washington Times-June 19, 2000
Clinton's 'jackboot' liberalism
Doug Bandow
By all accounts, President Clinton worries constantly about
his legacy. He need not: His assault on constitutional values, as
well as conventional morals, is unmatched. Indeed, he has gutted
the Democratic Party's commitment to civil liberties.
Democrats like Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, and Michael
Dukakis all represented a humane liberalism with a commitment to
civil liberties. No one would make that claim about Bill Clinton,
who represents a new political philosophy: jackboot liberalism.
Record numbers of wiretaps, repressive "anti-terrorism"
legislation, support for mandatory minimum sentences for drug
offenses, suspicious Internal Revenue Service audits of political
opponents, White House interference with banking investigations,
attacks on anti-abortion protesters, threats against critics of
federal housing projects, media intimidation, bureaucratic witch
hunts, brutal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and FBI
raids, interference with state laws relaxing use of marijuana for
medical purposes, purloined FBI files. It is a record that puts
Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon to shame. And it continues
today.
With administration support, Congress is pursuing
legislation to enhance penalties for methamphetamine production.
The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act would also impose a
dangerously sweeping ban on information pertaining to drugs and
drug paraphernalia. No good is likely to come from the measure,
since it will be no more effective than past laws in stopping
drug use. Even worse, though, buried within the legislation are
provisions gutting Fourth Amendment protections against
unreasonable searches and seizures. The federal government would
be allowed to carry out secret searches — now allowed only in
special circumstances — with notice given three or more months
later, if ever (the 90-day requirement could be extended
indefinitely).
Moreover, the government would not need to provide an
inventory of any intangible property, most importantly computer
files or document copies, that were seized. Basic to the
operation of the Fourth Amendment is knowing what the government
has done. Asks David Kopel, research director of the Independence
Institute, "how can a person challenge a warrant if they never
find out about it until after the harm has been done?"
An invisible search is inherently unreasonable. Those who
dislike being constrained by the Fourth Amendment hid their
handiwork in the meth bill for a reason: it wouldn't pass
otherwise. So, according to a Senate Judiciary Staffer quoted by
the Asheville Tribune, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin
Hatch, Utah Republican, and the Justice Department buried the
change "deep in the bill, and nobody noticed until the thing had
already passed."
No notice, no hearings. Committee spokeswoman Jeanne Lapatto
even disclaimed any knowledge of the provision. The Senate
approved the legislation, S. 486, last fall with little debate.
The companion measure, H.R. 2987, now is coming before the House
Judiciary Committee, where Rep. Bob Barr, Georgia Republican, a
former federal prosecutor, is leading the opposition. Mr. Barr
opines that "It's unconscionable that someone would try to sneak
these provisions into an unrelated bill."
He has gained the support of bill sponsor Rep. Christopher
Cannon, Utah Republican, as well as House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Henry Hyde, Illinois Republican. But proponents were not
content to stick the measure in the meth bill. The same
provisions are also buried in Senate bankruptcy legislation, now
in conference with the House. Conference committee reports are
ill-read and notoriously difficult to defeat. Which is why the
administration used this tactic to gain authorization for
warrantless "roving" wiretaps (of phones used by or near
particular individuals): a measure previously defeated on its
merits was snuck into a conference committee bill after both
houses had voted on the original measures.
The potential deception does not stop there. An aide to Mr.
Barr worries that even if the provisions are stripped from both
the meth and bankruptcy bills, "I think we'll see it again, later
in the appropriations process. Justice has decided to do whatever
it can" to pass the measure. That is, if the amendment fails in
its current form, proponents are likely to try to stuff it into
one or more omnibus spending bills, which are often approved in a
rush at the end of the budget year.
Especially after the disastrous 1995 government shutdown,
legislators hesitate rejecting any appropriations measure,
irrespective of the poison pills attached. At least in the
republic's early days, legislators occasionally read the measures
on which they were voting. Today it is a rare lawmaker who knows
the substance of the bills before him, let alone the details.
Congressional inattentiveness is bad enough at any time. But when
the executive is ever willing to sacrifice individual liberties
and the judiciary is ever willing to ratify state aggrandizement,
legislative abdication usually allows evil to triumph.
Come next Jan. 20, the public career of America's premier
jackboot liberal will end. But liberty will remain at risk unless
Congress and the people remain vigilant.
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
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