The Misunderstood Fourth Amendment

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a government in want of information must be in possession of a warrant. Or, if one prefers to quote the Warren Court, as do critics of NSA surveillance and the Patriot Act: "Searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval by judge or magistrate, are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment."

Well, sort of. Unless, that is, the police are in hot pursuit, or conducting a search incident to a lawful arrest, or have "reasonable suspicion" that a crime is about to be committed, or a suspect has given consent to a search, or a suspect's joint possessor (or roommate) has given consent--then no warrant is required. Or, come to think of it, unless federal administrators are checking whether a shop has followed minimum wage and maximum hour regulations, or a chemical company has complied with environmental regulations, or a liquor store's bookkeeping conforms to federal standards. Or unless the IRS wishes to see whether your income tax return squares with your bank records, or HHS wants to see if you have kept up your child support payments. Or unless you are visiting the House or the Senate or entering most any other government building. Or unless you are a high school student and the principal has reason to believe that you have cigarettes in your purse. Or unless you are hoping to board a plane, or a train, or to leave the country, or return to it. Each of these instances involves a government search; none requires a warrant.

In the 1967 case of Katz v. United States, Justice Potter Stewart qualified the "per se unreasonable" statement above by adding--"subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions." But in the face of such pervasive, and hardly "well-delineated," examples of warrantless government searches, one must wonder if it isn't warrants that are the exception.