Amendment IV to the U.S. Constitution
"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."
Web Pages
The Fourth Amendment | EFF Surveillance Self-Defense Project
Explains fourth amendment terminology and highlights points to consider, in particular with respect to computers and other electronic devices
"A seizure occurs when the government takes possession of items or detains people. A search is any intrusion by the government into something in which one has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Some examples of searches include: reaching into your pockets or searching through your purse; entering into your house, apartment, office, hotel room, or mobile home; and examining the contents of your backpack or luggage."
Explains fourth amendment terminology and highlights points to consider, in particular with respect to computers and other electronic devices
"A seizure occurs when the government takes possession of items or detains people. A search is any intrusion by the government into something in which one has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Some examples of searches include: reaching into your pockets or searching through your purse; entering into your house, apartment, office, hotel room, or mobile home; and examining the contents of your backpack or luggage."
Articles
Bush Broke the Law, by Charley Reese, 31 Jan 2006
Related Topic: George W. Bush
"What the Bush administration is saying is, to hell with the Bill of Rights. We are changing the standard. No probable cause and no oaths or affirmations are needed. All that is needed is if we personally decide that search and seizure is reasonable. By that standard, no police department in the U.S. would need to bother with search warrants."
Related Topic: George W. Bush
"What the Bush administration is saying is, to hell with the Bill of Rights. We are changing the standard. No probable cause and no oaths or affirmations are needed. All that is needed is if we personally decide that search and seizure is reasonable. By that standard, no police department in the U.S. would need to bother with search warrants."
Bush's Secret Surveillance State, by Anthony Gregory, 26 Dec 2005
Related Topic: George W. Bush
"... the administration gathered much more information through the NSA program ... including a wide range of data to perform 'pattern analysis,' ... — a process that reportedly exposed the entire U.S. telecommunications system, including e-mail, to surveillance — and ... monitored both domestic and international calls."
Related Topic: George W. Bush
"... the administration gathered much more information through the NSA program ... including a wide range of data to perform 'pattern analysis,' ... — a process that reportedly exposed the entire U.S. telecommunications system, including e-mail, to surveillance — and ... monitored both domestic and international calls."
Domestic Surveillance and the Patriot Act, by Ron Paul, Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk, 26 Dec 2005
"Why does the Constitution have an enumerated powers clause, if the government can do things wildly beyond those powers — such as establish a domestic spying program? Why have a 4th Amendment, if it does not prohibit government from eavesdropping on phone calls without telling anyone?"
"Why does the Constitution have an enumerated powers clause, if the government can do things wildly beyond those powers — such as establish a domestic spying program? Why have a 4th Amendment, if it does not prohibit government from eavesdropping on phone calls without telling anyone?"
Illegal Surveillance: A Real Security Threat, by James Bovard, 27 Feb 2006
Related Topic: Richard M. Nixon
"Americans seem to have forgotten why the Founding Fathers prohibited government from spying on them. ... such blind faith in government simply ignores the lessons of U.S. history. ... The purpose of the Fourth Amendment was to prevent government officials from having 'dictatorial power over the streets' and elsewhere ..."
Related Topic: Richard M. Nixon
"Americans seem to have forgotten why the Founding Fathers prohibited government from spying on them. ... such blind faith in government simply ignores the lessons of U.S. history. ... The purpose of the Fourth Amendment was to prevent government officials from having 'dictatorial power over the streets' and elsewhere ..."
No Right to Remain Silent, by Sheldon Richman, 25 Jun 2004
Related Topic: Right Against Self-Incrimination
"Nevada and 20 other states have criminalized remaining silent in the face of a policeman's question 'What's your name?' By a 5-4 vote the U.S. Supreme Court said that's okay — it's no violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches or the Fifth Amendment prohibition against compulsory self-incrimination."
Related Topic: Right Against Self-Incrimination
"Nevada and 20 other states have criminalized remaining silent in the face of a policeman's question 'What's your name?' By a 5-4 vote the U.S. Supreme Court said that's okay — it's no violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches or the Fifth Amendment prohibition against compulsory self-incrimination."
The Bill of Rights: Searches and Seizures, by Jacob G. Hornberger, Freedom Daily, Oct 2004
Related Topic: James Otis
"How would U.S. officials operate without a Fourth Amendment and an independent judiciary to enforce it? ... we've seen how they have operated with omnipotent power in occupied Iraq. ... armed U.S. soldiers routinely barge into people's homes and businesses and conduct intrusive searches of the premises and of the persons who are unfortunate to be there at the time."
Related Topic: James Otis
"How would U.S. officials operate without a Fourth Amendment and an independent judiciary to enforce it? ... we've seen how they have operated with omnipotent power in occupied Iraq. ... armed U.S. soldiers routinely barge into people's homes and businesses and conduct intrusive searches of the premises and of the persons who are unfortunate to be there at the time."
The Rocky Road of American Taxation, by Charles W. Adams, Mises.org Daily Article, 15 Apr 2006
Related Topics: Taxation, Samuel Adams, American Revolutionary War, Canada, Thirteen Colonies, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Private Property, Voting, War
Adapted from the author's For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization
"The Writ of Assistance is important ... because the threat of its use caused the founding fathers to place the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights. ... The amendment prohibits 'unreasonable searches and seizures,' which meant, most of all, that tax agents cannot snoop without a court order based on an affidavit establishing probable cause."
Related Topics: Taxation, Samuel Adams, American Revolutionary War, Canada, Thirteen Colonies, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Private Property, Voting, War
Adapted from the author's For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization
"The Writ of Assistance is important ... because the threat of its use caused the founding fathers to place the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights. ... The amendment prohibits 'unreasonable searches and seizures,' which meant, most of all, that tax agents cannot snoop without a court order based on an affidavit establishing probable cause."
The War System and Its Intellectual Myths, by Murray N. Rothbard, Harry Elmer Barnes: Learned Crusader, 1968
Related Topics: War, Cold War, Democracy, Foreign Entanglements, Japan, Military Industrial Complex, George Orwell, World War II
Originally titled "Harry Elmer Barnes as Revisionist of the Cold War"
"Barnes particularly directed his fire at the increased invasion of civil liberties built upon the launching of the Cold War. He especially noted two Supreme Court decisions gravely invading personal freedom against search and seizure: Harris v. U. S. (1947) and U. S. v. Rabinowitz (1950) ..."
Related Topics: War, Cold War, Democracy, Foreign Entanglements, Japan, Military Industrial Complex, George Orwell, World War II
Originally titled "Harry Elmer Barnes as Revisionist of the Cold War"
"Barnes particularly directed his fire at the increased invasion of civil liberties built upon the launching of the Cold War. He especially noted two Supreme Court decisions gravely invading personal freedom against search and seizure: Harris v. U. S. (1947) and U. S. v. Rabinowitz (1950) ..."