WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft asked Congress Thursday for expanded powers to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely before trials and to let him seek the death penalty or life imprisonment for ANY terrorist act....

Ashcroft

USA PATRIOT ACT: SEC. 802. DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC TERRORISM.
`(5) the term `domestic terrorism' means activities that--
`(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
`(B) appear to be intended--
`(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(Misdemeanors, folks. Death penalties.)