Fourth Amendment and the Right to Privacy

• NCJ Number: 128931
• Journal: Trial Volume: 26 Issue: 11 Dated: (November 1990) Pages: 60-64
• Author(s): J A Wasowicz
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Best Practice/State-of-the-Art Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A discussion and history of the right of privacy in the fourth amendment is presented. The exclusionary clause, the right of privacy, and the warrant requirement are but three parts of that ongoing debate.

Abstract

Equally controversial, perhaps, is the history of the origin of the amendment. Some scholars believe that the amendment called the fourth amendment is not the same one passed by the First Congress. It is said that a legislator, Egbert Benson, removed the House-approved measure proposed by James Madison and inserted his own version of the amendment. Madison's proposed amendment focused on the despised general warrants. When the amendment came before the full House of Representatives for consideration, Benson proposed a change that would have transformed the amendment from a prohibition against general warrants to a guarantee of a right to privacy. Benson's proposed substitution was a single clause to change the meaning of the amendment. 11 notes