Is the Fourth Amendment dying?

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was designed to protect us from unreasonable searches and seizures.

It specifically states the following:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Seems rather straightforward, doesn't it?

Perhaps not any more.

On Friday, June 20, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a FISA "compromise" agreement by a vote of 293-129.

The only way this bill is a "compromise" is that it compromises the Fourth Amendment.

The Associated Press describes the bill as "setting new electronic surveillance rules that in effect shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government's post-Sept. 11 warrantless eavesdropping on phone and computer lines in this country." In other words, Congress wants to make it legal for their big telecom donors to violate the Fourth Amendment. Hello, Big Brother!

Now it's off to the Senate, where the Dems don't really have a meaningful majority, and where the so-called leaders don't really seem to have a backbone. So I'm not optimistic.

It feels as though America is no longer the land of the free.