This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, November 26, 2015.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Give thanks today that Americans did away with the so-called general warrant,

replacing that relic of the past with the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirements

that include details about why and where a person or property may be searched or seized.

But the general warrant threatens to make a big comeback.

Laura Donahue, a professor of law at Georgetown Law,

spoke at the Cato Institute's conference on surveillance

in October.

What is a general warrant? A general warrant is a document that's issued by a court or the executive branch that gives officials the broad authority to search for and to seize private documents without any prior specific evidence of wrongdoing.

It does not specify with any particularity the person or place to be searched or the papers

or records to be seized. It's not supported by

oath or affirmation of any wrongdoing. It amounts to a fishing expedition to try to

find evidence of illegal activity. For centuries, prior to the American founding,

English jurists and legal scholars

rejected General Warrens as the worst exercise

of tyrannical power.

A brief look at the history

helps to illustrate why these recent intelligence

programs are an anathema to the principles

that underlie the United States Constitution.

During the reign of Charles I, Sir Edward Cook

...