Patriot Act Battle Begins Anew

On Wednesday, March 9, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is expected to hold a press conference in Washington, D.C., to announce that he is reintroducing the Freedom to Read Protection Act, legislation to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act to protect the privacy of bookstore and library patrons. Representing independent booksellers at the press conference will be Linda Ramsdell of The Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, and ABA COO Oren Teicher.

In advance of the reintroduction of Sanders' legislation, on March 2, ABA e-mailed a letter to independent booksellers who have participated in the Campaign for Reader Privacy that called on them to urge their members of Congress to support Sanders' legislation and to become a co-sponsor of his bill. Attached with the e-mail was a template letter that booksellers can send to their members of Congress.

Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act gives law enforcement officials broad authority to demand that libraries or bookstores turn over books, records, papers, and documents. To restore the safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records that were eliminated with the Patriot Act, Sanders first introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act in March 2003 following a letter-writing campaign by Vermont librarians and booksellers, including Ramsdell.

To support Sanders' efforts, a year ago, ABA, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center launched the Campaign for Reader Privacy, a nationwide grassroots petition drive to raise awareness about the threat to the privacy of bookstore and library records posed by the USA Patriot Act. In September 2004, the groups presented members of Congress with petitions bearing over 185,000 signatures calling for Congress to restore readers' privacy rights.

Though Section 215 and other amendments in the Patriot Act are due to sunset at the end of 2005, President George Bush has stated his desire to reauthorize these provisions and even expand the Patriot Act.

In his e-mail to booksellers, Teicher noted: "As you know, we came very close to winning this fight when the House of Representatives narrowly defeated a proposal by Representative Bernie Sanders ... banning bookstore and library searches under the Patriot Act's Section 215. (We actually won a majority of the votes, but our opponents extended the voting deadline while they twisted enough arms to deadlock the measure.)

"Because of your help last year -- and that of our colleagues in the Campaign for Reader Privacy -- we are convinced that we have a real chance of winning the fight for reader privacy in 2005. In the next few weeks, we'll be outlining a new battle plan for the new legislative session."

Teicher continued, "It would be very helpful if booksellers urged their members of Congress to support Rep. Sanders and co-sponsor his bill. I am attaching a draft of a letter that you can send to your Member of Congress. To have the greatest impact, print the letter on your store letterhead and send it to the local district office. (Mail to Capitol Hill is still slow because of precautions against anthrax.) An e-mail or phone call can also be helpful, although they are not as powerful." --David Grogan