Most American citizens 18 years of age and older have the right to vote and choose our representatives who make our laws. But it is your obligation to cast an informed and responsible vote. Listen for more!

Center for Civic Education

During the 1960s the Supreme Court held that searches conducted without warrants are inherently unreasonable. By the 1970s the Court had recognized a number of exceptions to the warrant requirement. We cover a few examples of those exceptions in today's podcast.

Center for Civic Education

The Fourth Amendment protects people and their personal effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. It also requires applications for warrants to be supported by probable cause and requires a judge to decide whether probable cause exists. How do officials obtain warrants? We'll explain in today's episode.

Center for Civic Education

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, but it seeks to strike a balance between the need for order and each individual's rights.

Center for Civic Education

There have been vast technological changes since the ratification of the Fourth Amendment in 1791, and the courts have been asked to interpret the significance of ever-changing technology and surveillance techniques.

Center for Civic Education

The Fourth Amendment grew directly out of the American colonial experience. It protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials.

Center for Civic Education

The protection against unreasonable search and seizure was in part a reaction against the general warrants issued by the British that so enraged American colonists in the prelude to the Revolution. The Fourth Amendment and state constitutions protect against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Center for Civic Education

John Adams claimed that James Otis's speech against general warrants was the first act of colonial resistance to British policies. Despite his fame, Otis's career would be ended by a violent attack by a British customs official.

Center for Civic Education

General warrants were unpopular in the American colonies, where they were used to search for evidence of smuggling. In a five-hour speech in February 1761, James Otis spoke out against them, saying that they would andquot;totally annihilateandquot; the British common-law tradition that andquot;A man's house is his castle.andquot;

Center for Civic Education

General warrants allowed British officials to search people, businesses, homes, and property indiscriminately. British officials in the American colonies used such warrants to collect taxes, to recover stolen goods including -- enslaved people -- and to prosecute smugglers.

Center for Civic Education