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The Second Amendment Of The United States

Decent Essays

The Fourth Amendment states in part “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated….” 14 United States Code 89 gives the U.S. Coast Guard authority to board, inspect, or seize any U.S. vessel on the high seas or in U.S. territorial waters. The Supreme Court has ruled not every search or seizure requires probable cause or a search warrant, however, these are the exception to the rule. The Coast Guard’s blanket authority to board any U.S. vessel at any time harkens back to the British treatment of colonial America and fly’s in the face of the Fourth Amendment. According to Linda Monk in The Words We Live By, colonists resented the British practice of general warrants. This allowed British agents to search anywhere they wanted and seize anything they pleased. Colonials resented this practice to the point that upon securing independence from Britain, eight states prohibited general warrants in their state constitutions. The areas to be discussed are what constitutes a reasonable expectation of privacy, reasonable searches and seizures, the requirement to establish probable cause, and when has the court ruled to the contrary. The first step in contrasting the Fourth Amendment and 14 USC 89 is to define whom these apply. According to Amar in America’s Constitution: A Biography, the term ‘the people’ used in the Fourth Amendment suggested the intent was to protect the person as

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