Introduction

Clockwise from top left: William Thomas Cain/Getty Images, Alex Wong/Getty Images, Tim Sloan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images, Michael Springer/Getty Images

As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11, we can't help but reflect on the USA Patriot Act -- the legal response to those deadly attacks that, despite engendering little dissent at the time, has become "shorthand for government abuse and overreaching," as The New York Times reporter Adam Liptak writes.

In 2001, in the weeks after Sept. 11, the law passed through Congress easily. People were worried about further attacks against the U.S. But has the Patriot Act protected us from terrorism? A decade later, do we still need the law?