The issue of post-9/11 government surveillance has pervaded the news media for several years, and the debate spawned by this controversy has left several important questions unanswered: what are the Constitutional and statutory underpinnings of U.S. surveillance law? How exactly has thePatriot Act change that statutory law? How exactly does the government's use of the Patriot Act run counter to Constitutional rights? Has the Bush Administration roamed beyond even the wide parameters provided by that Act? Can the FBI be reined-in at this point? In The Patriot Act: The Declineof Legitimacy in the Age of Terrorism, Professor Tim Casey speaks from his dual experience as a criminal lawyer and professor of law to address these vital questions. By explaining both the history of surveillance law and the ways in which the three branches of government are currently implementingthat law, Casey elucidates a subject far too complex to be adequately summarized in a newspaper or magazine article.By writing about this challenging issue with an accessibility unusual in legal scholarship, Casey has produced a book equally useful to educated citizens wishing to know their rights and to criminal lawyers seeking to navigate a quickly changing and somewhat obscure realm of regulations, statutes,and case law. In anticipation of a new Executive Branch administration in Washington, Casey offers an eloquent argument for why the current practices of the DOJ and FBI should be reformed and replaced with constitutionally sound policy. To be successful, such change will require a concerted effortbetween Congressional committees, law enforcement agencies, courts, and politically active citizens. In this brief but comprehensive new book, Tim Casey provides the legal template for realizing that change.

Professor Timothy Casey: B.A. (Boston College); J.D. (University of California, Hastings) LL.M. (Columbia)
Mr. Casey practiced criminal law with the Legal Aid Society in New York City, first with the Trial Division and then with the Criminal Appeals Bureau. He later trained newly hired attorneys and developed a niche practice in coram nobis litigation (a procedure that helps restore wrongfully convicted defendants to their pre-conviction status). He joined the Case Western Reserve Law School faculty in 2004, arriving from Columbia Law School where, as an Associate in Law, he developed and taught the Criminal Practice Clinic. In 2003, he was awarded a Public Policy Fellowship at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. In 2004, he was presented with the Presidential Teaching Award at Columbia University, and in 2005, he received a UCITE Learning Fellowship at Case Western Reserve University. His scholarly interests include public institutional design and specialized courts, and he recently published an article on juvenile drug courts, When Good Intentions are Not Enough: Problem Solving Courts and the Impending Crisis of Legitimacy, 57 SMU L. Rev. 1459. Mr. Casey currently teaches the Criminal Justice Clinic at Case Western.