The Fourth Amendment
The Fourth Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
No Knock Warrants, The Patriot Act, Stop and Frisk, Pinging Cell Phones, FISA Warrants, Profiling ....
There are so many controversial aspects and implications of when and how the 4th Amendment is or is nor applicable to a situation.
I grew up in Appalachia and we were told "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" probably not true then and likely even more untrue in modern times.
What is "reasonable cause"?
I doubt that we will be able to answer all or even any of these questions to the satisfaction, but I look forward to the discussion
Some interesting quotes -
The makers of our Constitution . . . conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone - the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.
Louis D. Brandeis
Asking questions is an essential part of police investigation. In the ordinary sense a police officer is free to ask a person for identification without implicating the Fourth Amendment.
Anthony Kennedy
As we live in a time of quickly escalating crime rates in our largest cities, pressures to reduce the size and scope of policing organizations and a populace that wants safety and security maintained we seem to be at a crossroad.
Where do we go and how does the 4th amendment help or hinder the path to safety and security for individuals and the cities as a whole?
This article is not about Trump or Biden
This article is not about the 2016 or 2020 or the 2024 election
This article is not about MAGA, or the ultra-left
This article is about the 4rd Amendment extraneous and off topic comments will be deleted
While the machinery of law enforcement and indeed the nature of crime itself have changed dramatically since the Fourth Amendment became part of the Nation's fundamental law in 1791, what the Framers understood then remains true today - that the task of combating crime and convicting the guilty will in every era seem of such critical and pressing concern that we may be lured by the temptations of expediency into forsaking our commitment to protecting individual liberty and privacy.
William J. Brennan
It appears to me from recent events that the left has increasingly started to abandon the concept of presumption of innocence and due process.
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As we move towards a surveillance society and the technology for unmanned systems improve, it will be interesting to see where the courts draw the boundaries.
DotW
An excellent point, the more technology advances the less "privacy" there will really be in my view.
Well virtually no one has wanted to discuss the 4th Amendment, so I will close until tomorrow.
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On to the fifth ! It could be a trendy topic .
John
It certainly could not be any worse.