Consider State Constitutions When the Supreme Court Fails

The United States Supreme Court, in Utah v. Strieff , continued on its course of ominously undermining Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by limiting the application of the exclusionary rule.[1]  The result is an invitation for police to randomly and unreasonably arrest[2] citizens without the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of probable cause. The Fourth Amendment directly […]

Appellate Court: Plaintiffs Offered No Proof NSA Violated Their Rights

“Plaintiffs must realize that secrecy is yet another form of regulation, prescribing not ‘what the citizen may do’ but instead ‘what the citizen may know.’”  US Appellate Court Judge Janice Rogers Brown “…the public has no interest in saving the government from the burdens of complying with the Constitution.”  US District Court Judge Richard Leon […]

Fourth Amendment Probable Cause for a Warrantless Arrest

A police officer cannot arrest a citizen without a warrant based upon a hunch or mere suspicion. He must have “probable cause”. The US Constitution‘s Fourth Amendment[1] requires a warrant for a person or his property to be “seized” or searched by a government agent.  The law has developed allowing government agents to conduct warrantless […]

Fourth Amendment Victory: Cell Phones Cannot be Searched Without a Warrant

In an age of NSA surveillance, secret courts issuing secret warrants, IRS officials allowing private data to be made public and more, it is important to take notice when the Supreme Court steps up and unanimously limits government intrusions in line with the intent of the Founders. Applying 18th Century constitutional commands in the modern […]

Two NSA decisions: One for the Constitution, One for the Government

On December 27, Federal Judge William Pauley, of the Southern District of New York, admitted everything that, on December 16th, Judge Richard Leon indicated was wrong with the National Security Agency’s Data Collection and Surveillance[1] program and, unlike Judge Leon, decided the program was reasonable, lawful and constitutional. Pauley Admits the Dangers to Liberty, but Trusts the Government […]

Courageous NSA Ruling by Judge Leon Respects Privacy and Fourth Amendment

On December 16, 2013 US District Court Judge Richard Leon took on arguments[1] that over the years have been used to expand government intrusion into American life in ways that would have left James Madison “aghast”.[2] His opinion in Klayman v. Obama finds much of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance collection of “telephony metadata” […]

Fourth Amendment Origins: Court Battles Lead to Revolution

“The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence as for his repose.”   Sir Edward Coke,[1] 1604 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  Benjamin Franklin,[2] 1755 “… one of the most essential branches […]