I am fearful for the Fourth Amendment. Last month in Navarette v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a traffic stop based solely on an anonymous tip that an identical-looking truck had run the tipster’s car off the road. Six days later, the court heard argument in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie, which raise the frightening prospect of warrantless searches of arrestees’ cell phones. Sadly, a majority of the court seems willing to drain the vitality from our right to be “secure . . . against unreasonable searches and seizures” in the name of effective law enforcement.
To return to a favorite theme: The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to make the government’s job harder, not easier. The warrant requirement is a prime example of that indispensable, but oft-forgotten, tenet of American democracy. Our Founding Fathers knew that the Fourth Amendment would make it more difficult for the authorities to catch criminals and to prosecute crime. They accepted that cost as one well-paid to ensure a sturdy bulwark against government intrusion and tyranny.
