Police State, U.S.A.

Abstract

All governments are potential police states. Constitutionally constrained democracies are no exception, as demonstrated by America’s post-9/11 experience. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. government expanded its domestic police powers in the name of protecting the person, property, and liberties of U.S. persons. Many of these police state powers persist due to the poorly defined and open-ended nature of the resulting “war on terror” and pathologies of democratic politics. We explore how a constitutionally constrained democratic government can take on police state powers that sustain over time. We then catalog some persistent police state powers adopted in the United States after the 9/11 attacks. These include the surveillance state, militarized police, civil asset forfeiture, expanded border patrol, No-Fly lists, and material witness law.

Keywords: border patrol, civil asset forfeiture, militarized police, No-fly lists, material witness law, police state, September 11 attacks, surveillance state, war on terror

JEL Classification: D74, F52, H12, H56