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| The 4th amendment protects: "persons, houses, | papers, and effects." | Note that it doesn't say "correspondence" or | "communication" or even "letters
by pyre 13y ago
| The 4th amendment protects: "persons, houses,
| papers, and effects."
| Note that it doesn't say "correspondence" or
| "communication" or even "letters" though those
| things surely existed at the time.
I presume that "letters" at the time would be covered by "papers."
- btilly 13y agoYou may presume it, but I am logically convinced. The only kinds of common correspondence in use at the time which were capable of being seized fall under papers (eg letters) and effects (including personal gifts). They are therefore protected.
- rayiner 13y agoThe connotation of the words is important. If I receive a "letter" and file it away in my desk, at that point I might call it a "paper." But you wouldn't say that you send and receive "papers" with a pen pal. What you're looking for is some sort of indication that the 4th amendment was intended to encompass communication, rather than personal spheres of privacy. What you have instead is two words that imply personal spheres of privacy ("houses" and "persons") and a word ("papers") that might be applied to correspondence once it is within your personal sphere of privacy, but not while it is "in transit." Reading the whole phrase together, and keeping in mind the historical context that lead to the amendment (not interception of communication, but rather invasive searches of houses and persons) suggests that the 4th amendment was not intended to create a general, broad protection of "communications" as such.