Fourth Amendment Necessary

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Often in history, when in a time of crisis, extreme measures have been taken in order to ensure safety and security of the citizens. But there is a fine line between what is necessary to protect national security and what crosses the line into violation of civil liberties. On October 26th, 2001, former President George W. Bush signed the extremely controversial USA Patriot Act. This law made it permissible to monitor activities of U.S. citizens. Some felt that the law was an invasion of privacy and were outraged that the government now had the ability to tap their phone lines, check their web history, and perform other such tasks. It also includes, but is not limited to other sources of communication and medical, library, and financial records.…show more content…
A large number of things included in the Patriot Act seemingly violate the amendment. Some are necessary but who’s to say whether the government has done unnecessary invasions of people’s privacy or not. Sections 213 of the Patriot Act allows government officials to walk in to a person’s home or work place, look around, then simply walk out without any warning or need for a warrant. This is called a “sneak-and-peak”. This can be done based solely on suspicion. “The use of “suspicion” as the sole requirement of a search or seizure of citizen homes or offices effectively bypasses the entire judicial system of warranted and supervised seizures, in favor of Justice Department interests.” (Abele, 1) Another cause for concern is that Sections 214, 215, 216, 505, and 412 all do away with the decision-making course that the judicial branch is responsible for. Section 412 gives the Attorney General permission to hold people who are not citizens for a time period between seven days to six months without charging the person in confinement. I feel that there is no purpose for this that makes the nation anymore secure. This is violation of civil rights and liberties in its rawest

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