NCPA


Policy Issues

NCPA Publications

Both Sides

Editorial Opinions

Audio/Visual


NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT US
States Adopting More Measured Approach To Antiterrorism Legislation
Daily Policy Digest

Terrorism Issues

Wednesday, March 27, 2002
In the days and weeks following Sept. 11, some state legislatures flew into a frenzy to pass anti-terrorism laws. New York's legislature, for example, passed what the governor's office called the toughest package of antiterrorism laws in the nation -- and did so within a week, without any hearings or amendments.

But things have since quieted down somewhat.

  • State lawmakers and civil libertarians report there is now a greater willingness to narrow or reject expansions of government power.
  • Florida's legislature even killed some antiterrorism initiatives it had passed only weeks before, and California and Washington state killed proposals to expand state wiretapping laws.
  • At the heart of debate in many states is a definition of terrorism that includes, among other things, a phrase to "influence the policy of a government" -- which civil libertarians contend is so broad as to allow acts of civil disobedience to be prosecuted as terrorism.
  • But some states -- including Florida, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia -- have adopted broader language over the objections of civil libertarians.
Nevertheless, as Kary Moss, director of the Michigan's American Civil Liberties Union, observes, "as more time passes, across the political spectrum, voices are saying, 'Whoa.'"

Source: Robert Gavin, "Frenzy to Adopt Terrorism Laws Starts to Recede," Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2002.

12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 900 South Building - Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
Copyright © 2002 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved.