IN A FEW MINUTES, I’ll be speaking at the law school’s “First Monday” program. This is done every year on the day the Supreme Court term starts, and it’s sponsored by the Alliance for Justice. Last year’s topic was gun control, and featured a ham-handed and intellectually dishonest film and handouts.

This year’s topic is the Patriot Act, and, well, the film and handouts don’t seem a whole lot better. I’m no fan of the Patriot Act, as InstaPundit readers know, and I was quick to warn against hysterical abandonment of civil liberties in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

But reading the Alliance for Justice’s manual for organizers is almost enough to turn me into a fan of the Act, or at least to alleviate my fears. The litany of “abuses” under the Patriot Act is laughably thin, and full of weasel words. Examples:

[Describing airport security abuses] At least two young Muslim women who cover their heads have been singled out for improper treatment at airport security checkpoints. One Muslim high school student was forced at gunpoint to take off her headscarf in public, violating her religious beliefs. The other was subjected to an unlawful strip search when she insisted on being taken to a provate room before removing her head scarf.

Well, I’m no fan of airport security, but if these two incidents are the worst they can come up with — actually, they’re the only incidents they mention (and they’re no worse than many non-Muslims have endured in the travesty that is airport security) — we’re not exactly talking the Fourth Reich here, are we? We’re also informed that “In addition, universities have received increased requests for information about their Arab and Muslim students.” As SKBubba writes: “What’s the problem with that? If they are here on a visa that says they are attending classes and don’t show up, why should they be allowed to stay and why shouldn’t this raise suspicions?”

We’re also supposed to be alarmed that FBI agents might attend public rallies without evidence of criminal activity — but I think the key word here is “public.” And the discussion of military tribunals admits that there aren’t any, but notes that “some speculate that they will be used to try prisoners from Afghanistan currently held in Guantanamo Bay.” We’re not told why the speculations of those “some” should worry us.

There’s also the usual stuff about critics being silence by being criticized, and Ashcroft’s remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee are invoked. But, really, you’re supposed to have some backbone, and Ashcroft’s remarks were all bark and no bite. If a Committee member had stood up to him, he would have wilted. Again, not exactly the Fourth Reich here.

Honestly, either the Alliance for Justice has just totally dropped the ball, or the civil-liberties toll of the post-9/11 world just isn’t that bad. Given their ability to make a lot out of a little in other contexts, I’m going to guess that things aren’t so bad. And that’s good news.