The 4th Amendment and the Patriot Act

Prague, CZ
05.07.2013
By Thomas Secrest

I'm going to present you with two passages of text. Then I hope you have the time to consider for yourself if the two can be reconciled with what is happening in America today. At the same time you have to also consider the implications if they cannot be reconciled.

The 4th Amendment 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.

Section 215 of the Patriot Act: The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a designee of the Director (whose rank shall be no lower than Assistant Special Agent in Charge) may make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution.

To me the spirit and the wording of these two texts are clear and based on that wording I suggest that the domestic digital spying program violates both the spirit and the letter of the law. If that is true, it means that those who brought the domestic spy program into reality, have not only violated the law of congress but the Constitution of the United States of America.

If you come to the same conclusions as I, then you are faced with the implications of what it means when the highest elected and non-elected officials of the land have knowingly and willingly subverted the Constitution.

Thomas Secrest