Years ago I tried to read it. It was impossible. What the act does is modify a whole host of other laws in order to subvert the protections they provide for the privacy of our homes, our communications and any data we generate. One example is that it rewrites banking laws to allow federal inspection of everyone’s financial records with little or no probable cause.

The law is so complex that it could not have been written in the few weeks between Sept. 11, 2001, and its presentation to Congress. It is so complex that it could never have been properly examined by Congress in the few weeks allowed before it was passed.