Right to be Secure

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:  “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects….”  This provision of the Constitution guarantees privacy to the American people in all areas of their lives.  This provision is under serious threat, particularly by Obama Administration and all its scandals.

                W. Cleon Skousen stated, “it will be immediately apparent that in our own day, many of these rights of privacy have been seriously impaired.  This has resulted almost entirely from the unauthorized invasion of the home, the business, and the private papers of the individual citizens by governmental agencies either enforcing federal regulations or collecting federal taxes under the Sixteenth Amendment.

                “Until the famous Barlow case, inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were intruding into private plants and businesses without warrants to see if they could find violations of safety or health regulations.

                “The extent to which the Internal Revenue Service has invaded the privacy of citizens to make certain each is paying his or her fair share is a matter of great concern through the entire country.  However, the major fault is with the law rather than the IRS.  The collection of direct taxes, such as income taxes, is impossible without virtually wiping out the guarantees set forth in the Fourth Amendment.”  (See The Making of America –The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, pp. 701-702.)

                Gerald V. Bradley of The Heritage Foundation explained, “The Fourth Amendment is the most prolific source of constitutional litigation in American history, particularly with application to the states after its incorporation through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Mapp v. Ohio (1961).  Its reach is indescribably broad:  every one of the millions of arrests made annually is a Fourth Amendment event.  So too is every search of every person or private area by a public official, whether a police officer, schoolteacher, probation officer, airport security agent, or corner crossing guard.  The Fourth Amendment is the constitutional sentry whenever someone’s privacy is diminished by a governmental search or seizure.  It protects a person’s `legitimate expectation of privacy.”  Katz v. United States (1967)….” (See The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, pp. 323-324.)