U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, brought up an issue Thursday that is deserving of much more discussion in the months ahead as Congress considers renewal of the Patriot Act.

Presiding over his first hearing in the chairman position, Specter questioned extending some of the police powers in the Patriot Act passed by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Specifically, he referred to language in the law that requires judges to issue warrants without making police or prosecutors justify them.

"Why can't we have that traditional probable-cause requirement on the obtaining of those records?" Specter asked.

He is correct.

Amid the concern and panic that followed the terrorist attacks, the goal was to quickly put in place provisions to help the nation protect itself from further attacks. At that point, the nation was unaware of how much additional serious danger it faced.

Since then, the nation has had time to re-evaluate the immediate steps it took to defend itself. No doubt some other provisions, in addition to the one involving warrants, also merit a rewriting - or elimination - at this juncture.

Specter has the legal background to ask the questions that need to be asked.

- J.R.K.