Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/March 16, 2011

The Enhanced Security and Enforcement Act, also known simply as the Security Act, was a bill approved by the Galactic Senate of the Republic during the Clone Wars. The act was one of many war-time amendments to the Galactic Constitution voted upon by the Senate that centralized the balance of power in the Republic, pulling it away from the citizenry and focusing it primarily within the Office of the Supreme Chancellor, which was at the time held by Palpatine of Naboo. The original legislation provided the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic with the legal authority to approve searches and seizures without due process and order the unlimited usage of observation droids. This draft was later amended with the Security Act amendment, which included a provision that placed the High Council of the Jedi Order under the command of the Supreme Chancellor.

The act was originally proposed in 21 BBY, but was officially tabled from discussion in the Senate. Later that year, the Alderaanian Senator Bail Prestor Organa was attacked by a pirate force while en route to the the galactic capital of Coruscant. Organa's colleagues in the Senate were appalled by the attack and so insisted that Palpatine reintroduce the act to the Senate's agenda. It was given wide support, but was challenged by a small but vocal minority consisting of Senator Mon Mothma, former Chancellor Finis Valorum, and Organa himself. Despite their efforts, the act passed after the Senate was galvanized by a terrorist attack on a refugee transport ship, the Star of Iskin.

The approval of the act resulted in a heavy restriction of civil liberties across the Republic, but particularly on Coruscant. The act was viewed negatively by the Jedi Order, which believed it was just one instance out of many in which Palpatine was manipulating the Senate into ceding its powers to his office. In the immediate wake of the bloody Battle of Coruscant, the Senate yet again convened to review the act, this time amending it to restructure the Republic Armed Forces' chain of command. The Security Act amendment placed Palpatine at the top of the Military command structure and, when combined with the Reflex Amendment, gave him the authority to issue the Sector Governance Decree, which effectively terminated the authority of the Senate as a balancing branch of government. These acts and amendments were followed shortly by the establishment of the Galactic Empire with Palpatine's Declaration of a New Order in 19 BBY.