Bye bye Fourth?
November 24, 2003
The New American Revolutionary has raised a red flag about possible circumventions of the sacrosanct Fourth Ammendment — yes, that one, which, coupled with the Mapp, 1961 exclusionary rule is one of the cornerstones of our judicial rights, law abiding or not.
Mapp v. Ohio, please report to the airport information desk. Your removal flight is coming shortly. Any Poisonous Fruits may stay behind; they are no longer toxic.
Pardon the snark, but I wonder if we as a society would be willing to suspend Mapp in the name of the War On Terror? How about that against your neighbor or schoolchildren? Hmmm. I remember asking this question a long time ago, and Emp. Misha did give me an answer about it… That a violation of Fourth Amendment rights should not exclude any evidence, but that law enforcement officers be penalized with jail time should they violate that right. (Like a jury would relish that, eh?)
Well, if the Amendment is de facto defunct…
You know what some might say: those who have done nothing bad should have no fear of overreaching surveillance. To which I respond by gouging their eyes out.
2 Comments to Bye bye Fourth?
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“To which I respond by gouging their eyes out.”
A fitting response!
Recently the leon exeption to the exclusionary rule has made it legal to neither swear to affirm or even talk about the evidence to the judge before receiving a warrant.The leon exeption,available to federal and some state law enforcement agencies,was intended to eliminate evidence lost to technnical mistakes.As with any assault on any of our rights the slippery slope has slid to ignoring the verbatim language of the constitution.”Supported by oath or affirmation”.This Leon exeption is court generated.This is an odd revalation.lawmakers must take very extreme measures to alter the constitution.A judge can do so with the stroke of a pen.The fourth ammendment is in serious trouble all in the name of making law enforcements job easier and easier.Excusing their strong arm tactics with ‘The war on drugs’or ‘the war on terror’,is how police states are born.our bill of rights is the framework of freedom.They work as a team each one can protect the other.hopefully the first ammendment can wake the public to our sick fouth ammendment and drastic measures are taken to save it from the self righteous.cause plan B in our bill of rights is the second ammendment.