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Essay On Fourth Amendment

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The Fourth Amendment plays a role in every American’s daily life. The Fourth Amendment in involved in our communication and texting, when a cop can perform a traffic stop, and who can enter your home. This Amendment has always played a large role in the lives of Americans, and has grown with society since it was ratified in 1789. During the Revolutionary War, colonists were upset at the lack of legal administration in Britain. The bobbies, or cops, in Britain would enter homes, seize property, and make accusations without any clear reason. After the war, the newly independent Americans demanded they be given a higher right to privacy. The Fourth Amendment was written in to The Bill of Rights to satisfy this demand and protect persons from …show more content…

In 2004, the Supreme Court heard the case of Arizona V. Johnson. This case focused on the privacy rights of a passenger during a traffic stop. In this case, a young man was pulled over for an expired registration tag. The officers noticed that the passenger, Lemon Montrea Johnson, was wearing gang paraphernalia and was acting suspicious. They patted Johnson down and discovered an undisclosed firearm on him; Johnson was arrested and charged. In the appeal, Johnson claimed the police officers did not have a right to search him. Johnson’s appeal was denied and the Supreme Court defined, “a police officer who is participating in a lawful traffic stop may perform a brief pat-down search of any passenger whom the officer has reason to believe may be armed and dangerous.” In this case the supreme court felt that any loss in privacy would be minimal compared to the added security officers of the law could ensure. Another similar case in 2008 brought the 4th Amendment into debate. This was the case of Illinois V. Lidster, that focused on the rights of law enforcement to establish road blocks. The Illinois police set up road blocks to obtain witness information on a deadly hit and run that had just occurred. Robert Lidster was stopped at the road block and consequently arrested for DUI. Lidster filed an appeal stating that the police had no right to construct a road block and

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