LARAMIE - Portions of the U.S.A. Patriot Act undercut Americans' constitutional rights but do not make the country safer, Republican U.S. House hopeful Cale Case claimed Thursday at the Albany County Public Library.

Case, a state senator from Lander, said Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the Justice Department to search Americans' library records for terrorism investigations, does not respect the Fourth Amendment guarantee that Americans be "secure in their persons, houses and effects."

Case, along with Bruce Asay of Cheyenne and Marvin "Trip" Applequist of Farson, is challenging U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin in the Aug. 17 Republican primary.

Sounding a theme he has made throughout the campaign, Case said he is the best candidate in the Republican race to safeguard the U.S. Constitution.

"We do not become more secure by taking away our freedoms," he said.

Cubin's press secretary, Joe Milczewski, said Thursday that the congresswoman understands the concerns many have about the anti-terrorism law, which was passed by Congress in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, but that "the Patriot Act has been subject - unfortunately - to more scare tactics than even Social Security."

He said most parts of the Act extended existing crime-fighting tools to terrorism investigations.

Although he conceded that some portions of the law could be helpful in fighting terrorism, Case said that much of its provisions are part of a "history of taking people's rights away, especially when we're afraid."

He criticized Cubin for voting against a House bill on July 8 that would have limited the federal government's authority to search the records of libraries and bookstores. The bill failed because of a tie vote.

Asay, a Cheyenne attorney and Brigadier General in the Wyoming National Guard, said in an interview Thursday that the Patriot Act is necessary "to give law enforcement officials the ability to fight terrorism."

He said he worries about Case's record on homeland security after the senator opposed the Wyoming Emergency Response Act in the Legislature's budget session earlier this year.

Case said he might have been wrong to oppose that act, which set up a state emergency response commission to coordinate on homeland security matters, but he argued that it was rushed through during the budget session, and he didn't want to vote for what could be a "big brother" law without having enough time to consider it fully.

Asay added that although he hasn't seen specific examples of rights violations because of the Patriot Act, he would be willing to review its provisions if any come to light.

"I haven't heard any of my Republican challengers articulate how they would have voted differently on any of these laws," Case said, referring to the Patriot Act and another bill supported by Cubin and Asay, the Marriage Protection Act.

That bill, which passed in the House on July 22, would strip federal courts of jurisdiction in same-sex marriage cases.

Milczewski said Cubin supports the bill for fear that "activist courts" on the east or west coasts could force Wyoming to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere in the United States under the "Full Faith and Credit" Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Case said he thinks the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress and signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996, does enough to guarantee that each state can recognize only the marriages it wants, and that the Marriage Protection Act exceeds Congress' authority over the courts.

"It violates our principles of judicial review," he said.

But Asay said the Marriage Protection Act doesn't keep Americans from receiving their right to redress in courts, it just ensures that state courts - not federal courts - are the ones that decide the issue.

Applequist, a veterinarian and rancher, could not be reached for comment.