The way I understand it, the patriot act superseded existing spy legislation. While the the patriot act was not written well, it what better than what it replac

The way I understand it, the patriot act superseded existing spy legislation. While the the patriot act was not written well, it what better than what it replaced. Now instead of further shaping of the patriot act, we have a more draconian preexisting law that allows the government to spy.