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The NSA: Is The Fourth Amendment Being Ignored?

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The NSA: Is the Fourth Amendment being ignored? Ahmed Sheikhahmed POL 328: Constitutional Law I December 12 2014 Initially, Americans believed that the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program had noble intentions, which would protect them from external threats and aggression in the form of terrorism. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, security agencies needed to have the ability to intercept communication between ‘terrorists’; however, Edward J. Snowden, a former NSA contractor, leaked several documents that provided evidence that the NSA surveillance program was going over and above its mandate. It was violating the privacy of millions of Americans and attacking their basic rights and liberties by …show more content…

The Fourth Amendment allows free communication between its citizens without the intrusion of the government; however, the NSA creates an environment that limits this free flow of information in highly confidential matters like discussion of particulars of a court case between lawyers and their clients. Evidently, this involvement shows how the NSA surveillance program violates the Fourth Amendment since it hampers the justice system in working efficiently. It is becoming increasingly difficult for foreign clients, who are aware of the involvement of NSA in surveillance, to reveal sensitive information to their lawyers, thus lowering the levels of trust between them. This act raises ethical and constitutional concerns regarding the activities carried out by the NSA. The far-reaching consequences of the NSA’s violation of the Fourth Amendment are evident in that such surveillance allows the government to have prior information of lawyers’ defense tactics. Additionally, the collection of evidence through the NSA surveillance program enables the unfair use of such evidence against the …show more content…

The supporters of the NSA surveillance program provide reasons that are blatantly unconstitutional, excusing the program as a small interference for the greater good of the citizen; however, the idea of relinquishing constitutional rights for the sake of national security is in itself a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The motivation for creation of the Fourth Amendment was the use of the ‘excuse’ of providing national security by suppressing and harassing citizens. The Constitution is an unconditional document; therefore, the NSA surveillance program is not justifiable through ambiguousness. Regarding the NSA surveillance program, there is no defined balance between security and liberty. Liberty is mutually exclusive from government interference in the context of security. Consequently, the utter transparency of the Fourth Amendment coupled with its historical inspiring origin, that is the Writs of Assistance, affirms that the NSA surveillance program is a violation of the Fourth

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