By Bernie Sanders

The USA Patriot Act, hastily passed in the wake of the horrific attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, poses a very serious danger to American constitutional rights. Instead of working with many of us in Congress who want to eliminate the unconstitutional provisions in that bill, Attorney General John Ashcroft wants to make it even worse.

Let's be clear. All of us want to protect the American people from terrorist attacks. It is imperative, however, that we undertake that endeavor in a way that does not undermine the basic freedoms Americans have fought for and died to protect.

Section 215 of the law allows government agents access to any business records -- including library and bookseller-patron information -- by requesting an order from the government's secret intelligence court. The legal standard for obtaining an order is so loose that the government is virtually certain to get whatever it wants, whenever it wants. In other words, the FBI can go on a "fishing expedition" to find out the reading habits of any American without probable cause. That's wrong.

Now, Ashcroft does not even want to have to get a rubber stamp from the government's secret court before he reviews what Americans are reading. His new proposal would allow the government to use administrative subpoenas to demand records from, among other entities, libraries, booksellers and Internet service providers (ISP) simply on his say-so alone.

The new proposal does have some window dressing to make it look as if the courts will be overseeing this process. But the practical reality may make these provisions essentially meaningless. For instance, only the party who is served with the subpoena can oppose it in court. That party is the library, bookseller or ISP -- not the individual American whose reading or Internet habits are being reviewed by the FBI.

And the average American won't even know the government is reading his or her records. Like Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, the requests themselves must be kept secret. Outrageously, under the proposed law, a librarian who tells you that the government is looking at your reading habits can be sent to jail.

Because the USA Patriot Act was passed so quickly in the wake of 9/11, it is not surprising that there are excesses that need to be remedied. But these new proposals make the onerous provisions of the USA Patriot Act even worse.

Congress should reject them out of hand and get to the real work of amending the current USA Patriot Act to keep the government from looking over our collective shoulders to see what we are reading.

This column by U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, who is an independent member of Congress from Vermont, was published in USA Today September 23 and is in the public domain. No republication restrictions.