Fourth Amendment Void Within 100 Miles Of US Border

Court Upholds Willy-Nilly Gadget Searches Along U.S. Border

 

 

 

 

” A federal judge today upheld a President Barack Obama administration policy allowing authorities along the U.S. border to seize and search laptops, smartphones and other electronic devices for any reason.

  The decision (.pdf) by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in New York comes as laptops, and now smartphones, have become virtual extensions of ourselves, housing everything from email to instant-message chats to our papers and effects.

  The American Civil Liberties Union brought the challenge nearly three years ago, claiming U.S. border officials should have reasonable suspicion to search gadgets along the border because of the data they store. But Judge Korman said the so-called “border exemption,” in which people can be searched for no reason at all along the border, continues to apply in the digital age.

  Alarmingly, the government contends the Fourth-Amendment-Free Zone stretches 100 miles inland from the nation’s actual border.”

 

 

   This is insanity . This ruling doesn’t just impact travelers . Millions of people live within a hundred miles of the border and now we are supposed to believe that in the name of “national security” their constitutional right to be secure in their papers and effects is forfeit ? The judge should disbarred immediately as he quite obviously is in violation of his oath to “uphold the Constitution” .

 

” 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. “

 

” The decision supports a conclusion 10 months ago from the Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights watchdog that said that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any reason whatsoever — all in the name of national security.”

 

 

 

The Founders are hanging their heads in shame .

 

 

    Benjamin Franklin was right :

 

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

 

 

 

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National Security Letters Unconstitutional

Federal Judge Finds National Security Letters Unconstitutional, Bans Them

 

 

 

 

” Ultra-secret national security letters that come with a gag order on the recipient are an unconstitutional impingement on free speech, a federal judge in California ruled in a decision released Friday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered the government to stop issuing so-called NSLs across the board, in a stunning defeat for the Obama administration’s surveillance practices. She also ordered the government to cease enforcing the gag provision in any other cases. However, she stayed her order for 90 days to give the government a chance to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We are very pleased that the Court recognized the fatal constitutional shortcomings of the NSL statute,” said Matt Zimmerman, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed a challenge to NSLs on behalf of an unknown telecom that received an NSL in 2011. “The government’s gags have truncated the public debate on these controversial surveillance tools. Our client looks forward to the day when it can publicly discuss its experience.” “

Related articles

• Judge: FBI surveillance method violates First Amendment (slashgear.com)
• National Security Letters With Gag Orders Declared Unconstitutional by Court (reason.com)
• National Security Letters Are Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules (eff.org)
• National security letters deemed unconstitutional (rt.com)
• FBI phone and email snooping tactic ruled unconstitutional (rawstory.com)
• National Security Letters Found to be Unconstitutional (sonicalkaline.wordpress.com)

 

 

 

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