For too long, opponents of the PATRIOT Act have transformed this law into a grossly distorted caricature that bears no relation to the legislation itself.

Wisconsin legislature
Sensenbrenner was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1968 the same year he graduated from law school. In July 2012 Sensenbrenner advocated amending the Espionage Act of 1917 to enable the prosecution of journalists involved in publishing leaks of state secrets. On June 17 2005 Sensenbrenner the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee abruptly ended a meeting where Republicans and Democrats were supposed to be debating the renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act and walked out in response to Democratic members raising issues regarding human rights violations at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp and the ongoing Iraq war.

Smith of Texas). He is the former Chairman of the House Science Committee and the former Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; when the Republicans lost control of the House he finiJim Sensenbrennerd his six-year term as Chairman and was not able to be chosen as the Judiciary Committee's ranking minority member (that honor went to Lamar S. It was numbered as the 9th District until 2003.