The 4th Amendment: Search and Seizure

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.6 • 16.4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Fourth Amendment is the part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures." But — what's unreasonable? That question has fueled a century's worth of court rulings that have dramatically expanded the power of individual police officers in the U.S. Today on the show, how an amendment that was supposed to limit government power has ended up enabling it.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from This is History with Dan Jones,
0:03.8	with a new season that relives the dramatic victories, bizarre parties,
0:07.6	and deadly inventions of the Middle Ages.
0:09.8	Join the drama and relive the Middle Ages like never before.
0:13.1	Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:16.6	James Otis, speech against ritz of Assistance, 1761.
0:23.6	A man's house is his castle.
0:35.6	And while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle.
0:44.2	This writ, if it should be declared, legal would totally annihilate this privilege.
0:52.4	Custom house officers may enter our houses when they please.
0:58.0	They are commanded to permit their entry.
1:01.0	Their menial servants may enter, may break locks, bars, and everything in their way.
1:09.0	And whether they break through malice or revenge,
1:13.6	no man, no court can inquire.
1:17.6	Their suspicion without oath is sufficient. It's now the roaring 20s, 1921, to be exact.
1:51.2	Prohibition is in full swing.
1:53.6	Selling and transporting alcohol is illegal.
1:56.8	So you have three prohibition agents and a state, basically, traffic law enforcer,
2:02.4	just hanging out by the highways, watching out for things, being on the lookout.
2:09.0	And they see an Oldsmobile Roadster driving by.
2:13.4	Oldsmobile Roadster at the time was about triple the price of a basic Model T.
2:19.1	So this was kind of a fancy car that the agents could pick out.
	...

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