Fourth Amendment, liberty come under fire in wake of terrorist attacks

Frontiersman editorial board

Amendment IV. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

One of the greatest challenges in creating a viable democratic system is to develop a justice system that allows for the capture and prosecution of criminals while also protecting the civil and property rights of law-abiding citizens. Allowing that it is impossible to strike a perfect balance in such a system, the tendency in the U.S. has been toward stronger protections for the innocent, even at the risk of diminishing law enforcement's ability to punish the guilty. Our system grows from the ideal that it is better to allow some number of criminals to escape justice than to punish one innocent citizen.

The Fourth Amendment protects us from illegal searches and seizures, and requires law enforcement officials to be specific when seeking search warrants. We generally accept that this protection now also applies to wire taps and other electronic surveillance.

Since the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, things have changed in the U.S. The U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, and legislation now dubbed PATRIOT Act II, have drawn fire from civil liberties groups and from local governments for an apparent disregard for Fourth Amendment and other constitutional rights. The acts empower agencies such as the FBI to conduct searches and collect information about citizens in ways that were considered blatantly unconstitutional only two years ago.

The justification for this legislation is that the safety of citizens sometimes outweighs even some constitutional protections. This is not a position that should be taken lightly. It is not enough for a representative government to claim, "It's for your own good," when stripping its citizens of constitutional rights.

To protect citizens by making them less free is to rob the nation of the very things we long to preserve. To allow fear of terrorism to erode our democratic ideals and liberties is to hand terrorists the greatest victory they could hope to achieve. A government that does not respect the rights of its citizens cannot claim democracy as a guiding ideal.

Editor's note: This is the third in a series of editorials examining some of the amendments that make up the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. We invite our readers to submit their views on the Bill of Rights.