United States Constitutional History Resources

Due to the thousands of daily governmental intrusions - such as airport checks, traffic stops, drug testing, obtaining of digital evidence, traditional criminal law enforcement practices and regulatory inspections - the Fourth Amendment is the most commonly implicated and litigated part of our Constitution. This treatise comprehensively treats United States Supreme Court caselaw and takes a structural approach to the Fourth Amendment, addressing foundational questions, such as: What is a search? What is a seizure? What does the Amendment protect? Who does it protect? When is it satisfied? When does the exclusionary rule apply? The treatise is organized by topic so a reader can have ready access to current doctrine and is able to examine in additional sections how current doctrine developed. The historical events and the Court's development of search and seizure principles provide context to, and perspective on, current doctrine.

The Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure provides the bulwark for police regulation and many other government functions in the United States. One of the most controversial rights in the Bill of Rights, this amendment is also among the most frequentlyadjudicated provisions of constitutional law. Yet its meaning has remained deeply contested, and the story of its origins is largely unknown. This book tells the full story of the Fourth Amendment's complex lineage, including its intellectual roots in England. This book has particular relevancetoday given the long list of controversial new surveillance measures undertaken by the government in recent years, including the USA Patriot Act and the NSA wiretapping program. The preface has been written by privacy expert Daniel Solove.

In this work, which won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize in history, McIlwain argues that the central problem in the genesis of the American Revolution was the determination of the exact nature of the British Empire's constitution. "After a searching examination of a wealth of judicial precedents drawn largely from Ireland's relations with the English king and parliament, the author reaches the conclusion that 'there was a bona fide constitutional issue which preceded the American Revolution, and from which it in part resulted.' He contends that, strictly from the legal standpoint, the colonists had a number of good constitutional precedents to support their position.": Allison, Fay, [et. al.] A Guide to Historical Literature cited in Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 377.

Constitutional History of the American Revolution Volume I: The Authority of Rights Volume II: The Authority to Tax Volume III: The Authority to Legislate Volume IV: The Authority of Law John Phillip Reid addresses the central constitutional issues that divided the American colonists from their English legislators: the authority to tax, the authority to legislate, the security of rights, the nature of law, the foundation of constitutional government in custom and contractarian theory, and the search for a constitutional settlement.

When the states ratified the Bill of Rights in the eighteenth century, the Fourth Amendment seemed straightforward. It requires that government respect the right of citizens to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." Of course,"papers and effects" are now digital and thus more vulnerable to government spying. But the biggest threat may be our own weakening resolve to preserve our privacy. In this potent new volume in Oxford's Inalienable Rights series, legal expert Stephen J. Schulhofer argues that the Fourth Amendment remains, as the title says, more essential than ever. From data-mining to airport body scans, drug testing and aggressive police patrolling on the streets, privacy isunder assault as never before - and we're simply getting used to it. But the trend is threatening the pillars of democracy itself, Schulhofer maintains. "Government surveillance may not worry the average citizen who reads best-selling books, practices a widely accepted religion, and adheres tomiddle-of-the-road political views," he writes. But surveillance weighs on minorities, dissenters, and unorthodox thinkers, "chilling their freedom to read what they choose, to say what they think, and to associate with others who are like-minded." All of us are affected, he adds. "When unrestrictedsearch and surveillance powers chill speech and religion, inhibit gossip and dampen creativity, they undermine politics and impoverish social life for everyone." Schulhofer offers a rich account of the history and nuances of Fourth Amendment protections, as he examines such issues as street stops, racial profiling, electronic surveillance, data aggregation, and the demands of national security. The Fourth Amendment, he reminds us, explicitly authorizesinvasions of privacy - but it requires justification and accountability, requirements that reconcile public safety with liberty. Combining a detailed knowledge of specific cases with a deep grasp of Constitutional law, More Essential than Ever offers a sophisticated and thoughtful perspective on this important debate.

The application of the Fourth Amendment's Exclusionary Rule has divided the Justices of the Supreme Court for nearly a century. As the legal remedy for when police violate the Fourth Amendment rights of a person and discover criminal evidence through illegal search and seizure, it is the mostfrequently litigated constitutional issue in United States courts. Tracey Maclin's The Supreme Court and the Fourth Amendment's Exclusionary Rule traces the rise and fall of the exclusionary rule using insight and behind-the-scenes access into the Court's thinking.Based on original archival research into the private papers of retired Justices, Professor Maclin's analysis clarifies the motivations and thoughts that explain the Court's exclusionary rule jurisprudence. He includes a comprehensive scholarly and objective discussion of the reasoning behind theCourt decisions, and demonstrates that like other constitutional doctrines, the exclusionary rule is a political mechanism that expands and contracts as the times and Justices change. Ultimately, this book will help readers understand how constitutional law is constructed by judges with diversepolitical perspectives.