I understand. My point is that, if one of our founding principles is that government overreach should be defended against and thus constrained--a principle that

I understand. My point is that, if one of our founding principles is that government overreach should be defended against and thus constrained--a principle that guides our Constitution and is enshrined in the Bill of Rights--it really shouldn't matter whom it's protecting. Fenceposts don't move when a horse tries to get through instead of a cow. To be fair, the Court did not hold that aliens aren't protected by the Constitution. It avoided the question by holding that the aliens' activities weren't protected, and that Fifth Amendment protections are different (and less stringent) for civil process than for criminal process.