“Much of the Patriot Act is neutral legislation for civil liberties”:

Who said that? Well, the executive director of the ACLU, Anthony Romero:

“While much of the Patriot Act is neutral legislation for civil liberties, it contains about a dozen provisions that simply go too far,” Romero added. “These dangerous provisions increase the chances that innocent Americans will be swept into terrorism investigations by removing traditional checks and balances on law enforcement and oversight powers from the judiciary.”

Obviously, the ACLU still has serious reservations about the Patriot Act — a dozen bad provisions would still make for a bad law (though I personally don’t see a dozen bad provisions there). But the ACLU’s acknowledgement that much of the Act doesn’t pose any civil liberties problems is noteworthy, I think, given the vitriolic attacks that many have launched against the Act, attacks that often didn’t include such acknowledgments.