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A controversial tool used by the Bush administration to root-out terrorism (and the “Axis of Evil”), the Patriot Act may be retooled and renamed the Justice Act. The Obama Administration wants to extend three provisions of the Patriot Act which are set to expire at the end of the year. Some say the provisions are unconstitutional and violate civil liberties but others maintain they are a necessary evil. What changes are in store for the Patriot Act, or should I say, the Justice Act?

Three of the Patriot Act’s original provisions, which expanded the power of the F.B.I. to seize records and to eavesdrop on phone calls in the course of a counterterrorism investigation, are set to expire by the end of the year. The Obama administration is pushing for an extension of these provisions under the new name, the “Justice Act,” and today the Supreme Court accepted review of one of those key provisions. Some say the provisions violate civil liberties but others maintain they’re a necessary evil—what changes could be in store?

Guests:

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-08)

Congressman Mike Coffman, (R-Colorado’s 6th District); member of the House Armed Services Committee

Mike German, ACLU lawyer, Former FBI Agent