The Bill of Rights-Fourth Amendment

 

I remember studying The Bill of Rights as the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. We went through each of them to understand their meaning. With the exception of the second amendment’s right to bear arms and the third amendment’s right to restrict the quartering of soldiers, it would appear that the other eight are now subject to whatever suits the whims of the president. He may now enforce or deny these rights as he sees fit.

In the recent raid on a 5-story Chicago apartment building, the fourth amendment got totally shredded. What should have been a targeted raid on specific locations within an apartment building, ended up with a raid and detention of every apartment resident regardless of involvement in any crime. Residents were forcibly evicted from their homes, dragged into the street in whatever they had on, some were dragged naked, their apartments were ransacked, and items were stolen (were missing).

Everyone was held in zip ties while they sorted out who was who. The difference between being arrested and detained after being dragged out of bed by armed agents is slight. Agents said they were looking for Tren De Aragua and anyone else they found who might be here illegally. It was basically round everyone up and see what you find. The effect was that federal officers from several units rounded up everyone, searched their apartments, did it all without a warrant, and used what they found to arrest 37 people.

Rodrick Johnson, 67, is one of many residents who were detained by federal agents during the South Shore raid. A U.S. citizen, he said agents broke through his door and dragged him out in zip ties.

Johnson said he was left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours before agents finally let him go.

“I asked [agents] why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up,” Johnson said. “I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one.”

Just a little Fourth Amendment refresher if your Civics class was a few years back:

The primary law governing search and seizure in the United States is the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects citizens from "unreasonable searches and seizures". The basic rule requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant based on probable cause before conducting a search. However, decades of court decisions have established several exceptions to the warrant requirement.

The Fourth Amendment states that people have the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures, and warrants should only be issued based on probable cause with a specific description of what is to be searched or seized. This establishes a two-part requirement: a search or seizure must be reasonable and generally requires a warrant supported by probable cause. The Fourth Amendment protects individuals' reasonable expectation of privacy, which is higher in some areas like a home compared to others like a car. Additionally, the exclusionary rule prevents evidence obtained through an illegal search or seizure from being used in court.

Among the exceptions that may be used in skirting the fourth amendment are officer safety and evidence preservation. Both of those are very subjective and will undoubtedly be used just like the term, “national security” is being used as an excuse for other violations of our Constitution.