In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
The first thing we notice is the 1st four words are a qualifier, in all criminal prosecutions. Not some prosecutions and not in Felony or misdemeanor prosecutions but all. I would like to remind the Public that inciting terror is a felony and requires prosecution which in turn requires the government to follow this amendment.
Then we have the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, has anyone seen a trial for those serving sentences for years in Gitmo yet? Speedy implies as fast as possible, not when you get done pushing bamboo under their finger nails. As far as the Patriot act is concerned this civil liberty does not exist in any way, so remember if the government calls you a terrorist you immediately no longer enjoy the 6th amendment protection of a speedy and public trial.
By an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, Interesting I do not recall reading of any terrorist attacks in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. I also do not believe that Gitmo is a district of the USA at all, which of course is the reason the Military takes prisoners there, current US laws and protections do not exist on Cuba and therefore enhanced interrogation techniques can be used. In truth I do not have a problem using those techniques against enemy combatants who seek to destroy this country but I do have a problem with the idea that Americans or any other countries citizens who committed a crime in this country not being given the full weight of their civil liberties, a concept this country was founded on. Moving those we believe to be terrorists to a place where their rights do not exist is simply a method of avoiding the idea of the Constitution and it should not be allowed.
This brings us to the concept which is wholly avoided by decree in the Patriot act, upon arrest and incarceration all people are afforded the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the incarceration. One of the precepts of taking prisoners to a place like Gitmo is so we do not have to give them any information what so ever and that causes fear and in turn that helps in getting information but that is also a breach of the 6th Amendment and should never be done.
During the trial we are afforded the decency of confronting the witnesses against us, that becomes harder to do when there is no trial and you are transported to a separate country where civil liberties are not recognized. The point of this part of the Amendment is so false accusations can be born out and the accusers punished if that is true. The Patriot Act gives an exemption to this if the person is accused of acts of terror, yet who makes that decision? Do not all crimes, particularly violent ones have an element of terror for the victim and if so cannot all rights for all violent offenders be ignored under the Patriot act? Of course we tell ourselves that common sense will prevail but I wonder how long before those in the government decide that the Patriot act can be used on those accused of rape and assault. There is the rub by the way for the Patriot act to be used all that needs to exist is an accusation, how many people lately have been falsely accused of rape? How many are falsely accused of crimes for political expediency and if the Patriot act is allowed to survive how many American citizens will be denied civil rights given to them by God not the government for those same reasons?
We are now down to the last two parts of the 6th Amendment, the right to gather witnesses in your defense and the right to have an attorney, I wonder how that works in Gitmo? Now a knee jerk reaction to a terror attack would be to want to lock up those guilty and get more information to protect our nation and I understand this but I wonder how long it will take for American citizens to be incarcerated because of accusations and not allowed to gather witnesses or afforded an attorney if the Patriot act is allowed to exist as a method of circumventing the constitution.
On the surface the Patriot act seems like a good idea but as we have seen it is a way for the government to take away the civil rights of an accused individual, remember anyone can make that accusation including the government and suddenly your rights as a human being, given to you by God, do not exist. The idea of protecting a nation is a good one, the idea of protecting the individual with specific rights the government must follow is a better one and yes this makes the job harder for the government but if in the end someone is basically being put in a cell for the rest of their lives or possibly being strapped to a table and their life extinguished, shouldn’t that task be difficult? Our founding fathers agreed those penalties were necessary but they also thought they should be difficult and the government bears the burden of proving an accusation and hence our civil liberties.
Any law that takes away or ignores the civil liberties of any human being in the USA should be found as a breach of our constitution immediately by our Supreme Court and not allowed and yet for 14 years the Patriot Act has been taking away the 6th amendment from anyone accused of an act of terror. Remember the key word accused.