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Examples Of The Fourth Amendment

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Illegal Search and Seizure The Fourth Amendment was added to the Constitution to protect people from the searching of their homes and private property with search warrants. The founders believed that our freedom and the right to privacy would better be protected. Part of the reason we have this amendment was because of the King George. When he had started to tax the colonies, the colonist would change to other ways of getting goods. In some cases that meant smuggling in goods. King George used a “writs of assistance” which had been legal search warrants that had a broad range. As the British would use this to search the colonist pretty much at will for no reason. Many colonist felt that the King’s search and seizures to be unlawful, and to lack any probable cause for the search. This was a big reason why the founding fathers added this amendment to the constitution. This amendment would help to limit and restrain courts and officials from exercising power and authority in violation against any unreasonable searches and seizures. Weeks v. United States The Supreme Courts case of Weeks v. United States in 1914 is a prime example for illegal search and seizure. Fremont Weeks was arrested by police in Kansas City, Missouri; for using the mail system to transport lottery tickets. While Weeks was arrests police officers had went to his house to search it. When the police arrived, a neighbor had told the police where they could find Weeks’s spare key. The police used

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