Terrorism and Civil Liberties in the U.S.

In the name of fighting terrorism, the government of the United States has curtailed some civil liberties, particularly the right to trial by jury, the right of privacy, and the protections against indefinite internment. This type of reaction is common among states confronted with terrorism, but it is a strategy that might pose grave risks to the fundamentals of American democracy as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. These measures are dangerous because they give greater power to the government, specifically the executive branch, and increase the chances that power will be abused. Nevertheless, there are steps we can take to make sure these powers are not abused or, that at the minimum, the abuses of power are minimized. This paper describes three important institutions that can minimize the abuses of power by the executive branch: the legislature, the judiciary, and the press. This paper will analyze how these institutions have performed in the United States while comparing their role to that of similar institutions in other democracies that have also curtailed civil liberties to fight terrorism. The central argument of this paper is that the United States can better protect civil liberties while fighting terrorism even though in comparison to other countries (like the United Kingdom, Peru, and Uruguay), the power of the executive branch in the U.S. has been relatively constrained. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]