Its a bird! Its a plane! Nah, its just a government drone. The world of drone surveillance has hit home now. In the last couple of years, there has been much ballyhoo here in the U.S. about government agencies and police using aerial drones for surveillance and invasive searches. This week, the FAA has stated that it is not required, and does not intend, to do any privacy analysis or regulatory action related to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) operated in U.S. domestic airspace. The Tea Party is likely to decry the FAAs statement as the next apocalypse (see Rand Pauls anti-drone antics in the Senate). But the people who are leading that charge have a twisted and unnatural view of the Fourth Amendments protections. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees Americans rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. Over the two centuries following adoption of the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court and lesser courts have given shape to this broad language by giving police surveillance powers in some cases, while restricting it in others. Remember that the Founders had no reasonable contemplation of airplane surveillance of citizens homes at the time they drafted the Bill of Rights. The world was a different place. And while the Founders felt the need to protect citizens in their homes and on their persons, even the Founders had no concerns about police investigations of agricultural fields or public streets. Similarly, in todays society, the Supreme Court has jealously guarded the Fourth Amendment protections for people when in their homes. But if youre in your yard, not so much. This isnt inconsistent with the Fourth Amendment. If I step outside of my house to do something, I cannot have a reasonable expectation that my activities will be completely secret and hidden from view from my neighbors (or others). In that same analysis, if I cant expect to hide my Mississippi Poppy Farm from my neighbor, I cant expect to hide it from a drone flying over my field. But my three-plant medical marijuana production in my basement is inside my home and not searchable by police absent a warrant (with very limited exceptions to that warrant requirement). Even though Ben Franklin, Hamilton and Madison may not have considered air flights over private property, the core concept of the Fourth Amendment was aimed at protecting the privacy of a persons home and body. Other locations (yards, fields, streets, public spaces, etc.) were not the areas intended to be guarded against governmental intrusion. So, whether my neighbor can see my poppy fields from his backyard garden, or whether the police fly over my property and take video footage with a drone, neither scenario invokes the concerns of the Fourth Amendment. There are a great many things that Conservatives - TRUE Conservatives - should be focused on remedying in this runaway welfare and socialist regime we call our federal government. But we MUST pick the correct arguments and fight for only those principles which have merit. Otherwise, we become the Chicken Littles the liberals portray us as, and our concerns become dismissed by the masses as out-of-touch with the modern world. Stay on point, and dont lose the propaganda war by crying foul at every little government action. Ben Franklin wouldnt have thought the Fourth Amendment protected my poppy fields, so Im not running around with lots of argle-bargle about drones in domestic airspace. ARMED drones.... Now, thats something to consider at a different time for different policy reasons....
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 16:56:53 +0000
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