The sun rises on the US Patriot Act: four more years of American exceptionalism

Other Bill of Rights infringements, according to the CCAPA, include Amendments I and VI which are contravened by Patriot Act provisions limiting freedom of association (the government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity); the right to legal representation (the government may monitor conversations between attorneys and clients in federal prisons and deny lawyers to those accused of crimes); the right to freedom of speech (the government may prosecute keepers of public records if they tell anyone the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation); and the right to liberty (people may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them with those labeled as "unlawful combatants" held incommunicado and refused attorneys).

There is international concern that the Patriot Act's application could extend beyond the American borders and infringe upon the right to privacy of thousands of non-American citizens and foreign businesses. Canadian's are concerned that private information about citizens and businesses is no longer effectively protected by domestic laws. Even though the protection of personal information has long been considered as a fundamental right in Canada under the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Internationally, states that have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations' International Pact Regarding Civil and Political Rights would expect that international law enshrines the protection of personal information either as a fundamental right or as an intrinsic part of the protection of human dignity and freedom.

Martin Scheinin, the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, has expressed concerned that the Patriot Act and the Detainee Treatment Act (2005) and America's adverse developments in immigration and refugee policies, increased profiling and domestic surveillance, enhanced interrogation techniques, and a decline in press freedom, has weakened human rights globally and in America. Scheinin has said: "Despite the existence of a tradition in the United States of respect for the rule of law, and the presence of self-correcting mechanisms under the US Constitution, it is most regretful that a number of important mechanisms for the protection of rights have been removed or obfuscated under law and practice since the events of September 11".

This includes the 2001 Patriot Act and no doubt would include the 2011 Patriot Sunsets Extension Act. The Detainee Treatment Act prohibits the "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" of detainees and provides for "uniform standards" for interrogation. However, the 2005 Act also removed the federal courts' jurisdiction over detainees wishing to challenge the legality of their detention, stating that "no court, justice or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider" applications on behalf of Guantanamo detainees.

The political problem for Barrack Obama, at least internationally is that America is a member of the United Nations, having signed the prerequisite document the Charter of the United Nations. The Charter sets out the obligations of members and, amongst other matters, establishes the Security Council. Article 2(4) of the Charter states: "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations." However, Article 2(4) does not prevent a country from defending itself in response to acts of aggression.

Article 51 states: "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security." The U.S. has said that its' domestic acts (the Patriot Act etal and the Detainee Treatment Act) and international actions (in Afghanistan, Iraq and more recently in Pakistan) are acts of self-defence rather than reprisal or punishment. This is a view that is problematic in parts of the Middle East and probably in parts of America.

A permanent extension of the Patriot Sunsets Extension Act sought by Republicans was defeated. The current measures are in place until June 2015. American exceptionalism remains in place for four more years.