The Fourth Amendment
The fourth amendment is very important to us all. It says that the government cannot arbitrarily search you or you home. The government must conduct reasonable searches and they must have a reason to search in the first place (probable cause).
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.
Back in England before there was an America it was not uncommon for the local constabulary to ransack a house in order to find something. Even if they did not have a reason they could break into your house and look until they found something to bust you for. Obviously, this should not be acceptable in a civilized society.
This amendment has been tested in a few different ways. For instance, sobriety check-points, are they reasonable. They are just pulling random people over to check for a violation there is no probable cause. Sounds rather like breaking into your house to find something. However, the supreme court has ruled that this has to do with public safety. The searches are limited in scope and the officers must have probable cause to give you the Breathalyzer.
In other words, they can pull you over ask how your doing, where your coming from, where your going etc… If it then appears you might be inebriated then they can give you the Breathalyzer; your behavior gave them probable cause. This just made me wonder, what about the fifth amendment can I just turn away and plead the fifth - that would deny them probable cause. I’ll have to think on this one.
Any way, back to the fourth amendment. In general, I agree with the public safety premise after all it’s public safety; a lot of us use the roads and would rather not be out there with drunks. As long as they have to get probable cause to go further than asking a few questions. They can’t just pull you over, give you Breathalyzer and draw your blood. They can’t pick just you to check, it has to be random.
However, this is a slippery slope. Airport searches are conducted in the interest of public safety and national defense and have been upheld by the courts. If you are creative and think about say… Nazi germany it’s not a big leap to say; I think this person is planning an attack on the government he posted something about the constitution in a newsgroup so lets search his house in the interest of national security and public safety.
Think about the Patriot Act, eavesdropping, wire taps, ability to create the warrant after you find the evidence (which is clearly a violation of this amendment)… kinda scary. The government should not fear it’s citizens, if it does maybe they need to consider why.