It's official: The Justice Department is using the Patriot Act in criminal cases as well as terrorism investigation. Michelle Mittelstadt has a through report in the Dallas Morning News, available without subscription, here:

Though the government has not revealed most of the details of how it has applied the Patriot Act, the Justice Department told Congress in May that it is using the law in criminal cases, not just terrorism investigations.

Federal agents have used the new tools to seize a con man's assets; track down computer hackers and a fugitive; identify the hoaxster who made a school bomb threat, and monitor kidnappers' communications, the department advised the House Judiciary Committee.

In-house documents show that prosecutors are exploring other ways to use Patriot Act authorities in criminal investigations....In a May 2002 bulletin to the nation's 94 U.S. attorneys, a staffer in Justice's Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section wrote enthusiastically about the Patriot Act's reach beyond terrorism cases. "Indeed, investigations of all manner of criminal conduct with a nexus to the Internet have benefited from these amendments," the trial attorney wrote.

Two bills have been introduced in Congress to try and take back some of the Patriot Act's new powers. The first, by Russ Feingold (D-WI), the lone senator to vote against the bill, would "limit records searches by requiring the FBI to show that the documents pertain to a suspected terrorist or spy."

The second bill, introduced by Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) has broad bipartisan support.

[It] would limit a number of Patriot Act authorities specifically to terrorism investigations, including the much-criticized "sneak-and-peek" searches. It also would increase judges' powers to scrutinize warrants and other authorities granted under the law, narrow the definition of domestic terrorism, and raise standards for records and wiretap requests.

Passage of these bills would help, but are not a cure-all.

"It's a good first start," said Denver attorney Jeralyn Merritt, treasurer of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "It places what I would call modest checks and balances on the most troublesome provisions."

On a related issue, don't miss law professor David Cole's analysis of Ashcroft's Patriot Act tour in the new issue of the Nation. And the Washington Post addresses the secrecy aspects of the use of the Patriot Act here.