Lesson
Security, Liberty, and the USA Patriot Act
Was the Patriot Act constitutional? Evaluate the contradictory viewpoints of liberty and security as it concerns wartime measures. Analyze the significance of the changes to criminal procedure the Patriot Act applied to all federal criminal prosecution and evaluate the significance of protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Founding Principles
Learning objectives
- Students evaluate contradictory viewpoints of liberty and security.
- Students evaluate the constitutionality of the Patriot Act.
- Students evaluate whether the Constitution takes on different meanings during wartime.
- Students evaluate the significance of the fact that the Patriot Act’s changes in criminal procedure would apply to every federal criminal prosecution, rather than applying only to terrorism investigations.
- Students evaluate the significance of protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
Materials
- Handout A: Department of Justice Summary of USA Patriot Act (http://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/what_is_the_patriot_act.pdf)
- Handout B: Preamble and Fourth Amendment
- Handout C: U.S. Senator Rand Paul Opposition to USA Patriot Act, 2011
- Handout D: President Barack Obama Press Conference – August 9, 2013 (http://wh.gov/lg4h2)
- Handout E: Twitter Feed Template
Lesson Components
ActivityHandout E: Twitter Feed Template
Lesson plan
180 minClick a phase to open it