The Fourth Amendment does not say the people have a right to be secure against some government files, or against files kept longer than 30 days, or against files a judge later decides they look “too much like a GPS.” It says:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.
Read the nouns. Persons. Houses. Papers. Effects. The right is security from the state. Period. End of question. The warrant clause then tells the government the only lawful way to pierce that security: probable cause, oath, and particularity. A particular person. A particular place. A particular effect.
That text does not authorize the government to create a running file on the innocent and rummage it later. It authorizes the government, with a warrant, to take what already exists from a particular target. The state may receive another party’s records when a judge has named the crime and the person. The state may not stand in the road and become the original author of the citizen’s movements, even when it employs a third party to do it for them.
That is why, if this question is framed correctly and taken to the Supreme Court, we will win. Read more


















You must be logged in to post a comment.