Attorney General John Ashcroft continued his defense of the Patritot Act yesterday by charging librarians were fueling “baseless hysteria” by warning library patrons about the government’s power to subpoena library records.

Speaking before the American Restaurant Association, Ashcroft claimed the government, “has no interest in your reading habits. Tracking reading habits would betray our high regard for the First Amendment.”

Under the Patriot Act, federal agents were given the power to secretly demand records from librarians and booksellers about patrons. The New York Times reports it is not known how many times this aspect of the law has been used because the information is classified. And librarians are bound by a gag order to tell no one if and when records are requested.