Patriot Act Attack on Fourth Amendment Extended, Despite Some Tea Party Opposition

Written By: Thomas R. Eddlem  |  Posted: Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

            President Obama is expected to sign a three-month extension of three provisions of the USA Patriot Act after Congress easily passed the measure, despite spirited opposition from congressional Democrats and a significant portion of the constitutionalist wing of the Tea Party movement.

            The Patriot Act clearly violates at least two of the four requirements of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding which searches are "reasonable" and constitutional. Under the Fourth Amendment, constitutional searches must have a court warrant, the warrant must be supported by an oath, the warrant must be based on "probable cause" and the warrant must describe what will be searched and what will be found. The Fourth Amendment reads:

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