Dale said -
So, this isn't about the US Constitution or the Bill of Rights as a whole is it? This is about what you agree with and what you don't. It's your way or the highway. You all seem to hide behind the Constitution when the cause fits your beliefs. But your willing to look the other way when it does not.
Ok Dale - just for shits and giggles - here is the 4th Ammendment posted by our friend Marc
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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.
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Ok, this brings us to the PA and section 215 which deals directly in reversing this Ammendment. Section 215 modifies the rules on records searches. Post-Patriot Act, third-party holders of your financial, library, travel, video rental, phone, medical, church, synagogue, and mosque records can be searched without your knowledge or consent, providing the government says it's trying to protect against terrorism. Previously the government needed at least a warrant and probable cause to access private records. The Fourth Amendment provided that if the state wished to search you, it needed to show probable cause that a crime had been committed and to obtain a warrant from a neutral judge. Now the FBI needs only to certify to a judge—(no need for evidence or probable cause) that the search protects against terrorism. The judge has no authority to reject this application. DOJ calls this "seeking a court order," but it's much closer to a rubber stamp. Also, now the target of a search needn't be a terror suspect herself, so long as the government's purpose is "an authorized investigation ... to protect against international terrorism."
I've yet to hear you agonize over this one - which is a pretty clear example of Constitutional reversal. Now Dale - who's practicing the "look the other way" approach?
Dan
