Exercising your Fourth Amendment Rights

A right not exercised is a right given up. Exercising your rights is easy. You don’t have to wear sweats, or actually sweat, or pay membership to any club. You don’t even have to put them on a leash and pick up after them. The Fourth Amendment protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures. This amendment has turned into a couch potato from lack of exercise. Let me explain the process of exercising this right.

To keep the Fourth Amendment healthy all that is required is for you to say, “No.” It doesn’t get any easier. You can’t do this with your dog or children. When your dog wants to go outside and you say “No,” the dog just whines until it gets its way. Then you have to get up, and actually do whatever it is the dog wants to do. The same is true with kids. The Fourth Amendment is like a double-negative-super-hero. The more you say “No,” the stronger it gets. However, if you give up your Fourth Amendment right and allow a search with your permission, don’t come begging to the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment, once given up, cannot be resurrected to save you. There is only one Fourth Amendment, we are all responsible for its well being. If I had one to myself it would look like a muscle bound weight lifter. I love telling government officials “No.” You should do it just to see the look on their faces. You see, they are used to people not exercising their Fourth Amendment right, if they even know they have one. I have to share the one and only Fourth Amendment with everyone else. Some people, including judges, are depriving the Fourth Amendment of exercise, locking it up and not letting it see the light of day, so to speak.

Here are some examples of exercising your Fourth Amendment right: A cop is at your door and asks to come in, you say “No.” You are pulled over for speeding and know you are guilty and just want to cooperate, you will do anything to get this over with. The cop asks what’s in the bag on the passenger seat. You reply, “None of your business.” “No” being the root of none, see the first two letters. If you haven’t had as many opportunities to exercise the Fourth Amendment as I have, (I guess I’m just lucky) you may find that those answers sound rude and looks like the person is hiding something. They are not rude, you may be surprised to find that the cops will simply nod and go on with their business. But you are hiding something! Yes! You are hiding everything! That is your right guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, fought for, and died for, by many patriots in this country’s history. The government doesn’t need to know what you have, don’t show them.

Cops do not have to tell you that you have the right to refuse a search, Schneckloth v. Bustamonte (1973), but you do have that right. I love that case, say it out loud, see if you laugh. Cops can and will lie to trick you into giving up your Fourth Amendment rights. If they lie to obtain a search, that search is illegal and inadmissible in court. Two of their favorite ruses are; “You will be charged with obstructing justice if you don’t let us search.” And the other is; “You might as well let us search, or we will go get a search warrant and search anyway.” The first is an outright lie. You can’t be legally arrested for exercising your Fourth Amendment rights. If they do have probable cause to get a search warrant, make them do it. That way, they can only search for what and where they have specified in the search warrant, unless you leave illegal contraband laying about in full sight. But if you let them in, they can search everywhere, for anything, and you have no protection from the Fourth Amendment. Another one they use generally is; “You can cooperate with us, or we can do this the hard way.” If you notice, there really isn’t a choice there. If you are guilty and “cooperate” they will arrest you. If you are guilty and they do it the hard way, they will arrest you. If you aren’t guilty, or even if you are, say, “How may I help you?” This takes the non-choice right out of the picture. They may try these tactics over and over to wear you down, just keep saying “No.” and “How can I help you.” Eventually they will get bored and go find something to do.

Obtaining a search warrant is not as easy as cops make it sound when they are threatening you with it. They have to have probable cause. Probable cause is based on evidence, and a belief based on facts that would lead a reasonably prudent person to a conclusion about unknown facts. Exercising your Fourth Amendment rights is not probable cause. A cop cannot go to a judge and say, “They won’t let me search, they must be hiding something. Give me a search warrant.” Just say “No.”

When is it appropriate to give up your Fourth Amendment rights? Aren’t you listening? Never! Never! Never! I know some of you are thinking, “I’m not a criminal, I don’t see anything wrong with cooperating with cops, they are just doing their job.” You’re right, they are just doing their job, and their job is to convict you. Part of the Miranda rights is; everything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law. You don’t get to use it for your defense, it is used against you. You don’t get to prove your innocence in court, court is to prove your guilt, you are presumed innocent. So cooperate yourself right into jail if you want, even if you are innocent. Cops will do their job to convict you with your help much easier than without it. This is getting into Fifth Amendment territory, but the concept is the same for the Fourth; don’t cooperate yourself into jail. Why cooperate with a hassle, if you know you aren’t guilty?

Mapp v. Ohio (1961) is a great story of exercising the Fourth Amendment. Cops had received information that at the home of Ms. Mapp there was a bombing suspect and illegal betting equipment. Three officers went to her house and asked for permission to search, she refused. Two officers left to obtain a search warrant. Hours later they returned waving a piece of paper saying it was a search warrant. Ms. Mapp asked to see the search warrant. The officers refused. She grabbed it from them and stuffed it inside her dress. I can just see this, one little lady standing up to three officers with only the Fourth Amendment on her side. She didn’t just say “No,” she grabbed the “search warrant.” The cops then wrestled with her to retrieve the “search warrant.” Get a mental picture of that. Then they proceeded with the search and did not find what they were looking for, but did find pornography left by a boarder in a suitcase. She was arrested for being belligerent, and she should be very proud of that, and charged with possessing pornography. She was convicted, but the Fourth Amendment came to her rescue. No actual search warrant was ever found. The Supreme Court found that states could not conduct illegal searches. If you think that was an easy decision to make, the vote was 6-3. Three Supreme Court Justices were for illegal searches, maybe not exactly for illegal searches, but that’s what it comes down to. Still want to cooperate yourself into jail? Had Ms. Mapp cooperated with the search, she would have given up her Fourth Amendment rights and served her sentence.

Some recent court decisions and the Patriot Act especially, are hacking away at the Fourth Amendment. However, the Fourth Amendment is still the highest law in the land. The only way to get it back to full strength is to keep exercising its original intent. This will necessarily lead to court challenges and legislation. It’s sad that we need to legislate the Fourth Amendment back into force. Much more could be said, and books have been written about the Fourth Amendment. I will leave you with this quote by William Pitt in 1763, “The poorest man may, in his cottage, bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England may not enter; all his force dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.”

This is the attitude we all must have to preserve the Fourth Amendment.