By CNN Editorial Page The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. This is the beginning of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and defines one of the most important rights we have against a potentially tyrannical government….
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI’s use of cell-phone tracking technology will go on trial this afternoon. At issue is stingray devices, which use legitimate cell towers to connect to mobile devices, CNET reports. Civil libertarians argue the devices violate Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to reasonable privacy and want to impose limits on them, in the…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Police who use drug-sniffing dogs outside of homes to detect crimes without a warrant are violating the ban on unreasonable searches, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Tuesday, the New York Times reports. In this case, a police dog detected the odor of marijuana outside a Florida house, and authorities used the…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Federal agencies are increasingly using administrative subpoenas to force the release of information from virtually all businesses, a tactic that critics say strips the civil liberties of Americans, Wired reports. The DEA, for example, can issue an administrative subpoena without a court warrant if the agent believes the information is relevant to…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Former sheriff of Worth County, Mo. Neal Wayne “Bear” Groom was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison followed by a year of supervised release for violating the civil rights of several women by getting them to expose parts of their body, according to a statement from the Justice Department. Following…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com As Herman Cain knows, it’s a fine line between a friendly pat on the shoulder and a little too much touching. Now, Steven Howards will find out the same. On Monday the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether or not Howards can sue the Secret Service for denying his right to…
