The Fourth Amendment – Search and Seizure 8/14/19
Meg Mott, professor of politics at Marlboro College, leads a discussion on the Fourth Amendment at Brooks Memorial Library, part of the Debating Our Rights series. The Fourth not only requires police to show a warrant before entering the home, it also requires all searches and seizures to be reasonable, a determination left to juries after the fact. Along with these protections against zealous investigators, the Fourth has come to be associated with the right to privacy, a word that never shows up in the Constitution. Mott provides a brief overview of constitutional interpretation, “a game,” she notes, “that not only Supreme Court Justices can play. By looking at the historical context as well as more recent Supreme Court decisions, the Debating Our Rights series is designed to give ordinary citizens the tools to jump into the fray.” The program begins and concludes with a rendering of the Amendment by the Constitution Chorus. Led by composer Neely Bruce, local singers perform Bruce’s motet, composed in the style of 18th century composer William Billings.
