BAD PROPOSAL NEEDS TO GO

Tucked away in federal legislation aimed at the methamphetamine problem is
truly dangerous proposal, one that needs to be stopped.

Under the guise of giving formal approval to what is already taking place,
officials propose changing the law to allow police to conduct searches
without notice and seize property without immediately telling the owner.

How, under any reasonable interpretation of Fourth Amendment guarantees
against "unreasonable searches and seizures," can this stand up? If these
are practices that are already going on, then those prosecutors and police
officers ought to be up on charges, and the judges giving the OK ought to
answer some hard questions.

As it stands, if the police think you're running a meth lab, gambling parlor
or something else illegal in your home, they go to a judge, show evidence
and get a warrant to search the premises. Still, you have rights. One is to
know that your property has been searched or is going to be searched. This
bill would do away with that. So, for example, the cops could come into your
business, copy your hard drive and leave, and you'd be none the wiser.

Similarly, it has been well documented that police agencies are in love with
laws that let them seize property of bad guys, mostly drug bad guys. That's
questionable enough. This bill would let the police seize property without
telling the owner. That would be, flat out, an Orwellian nightmare.

As it stands, authorities can get a judge to approve a wiretap on your
phone, and you'll never know about it unless and until you're charged.
Federal law allows so-called sneak-and-peek warrants that allow agents to go
into your home or business and confirm their suspicions about illegal
activity. Now, the authorities want to push that line further - a lot
further.

The Clinton administration, which has done much to undermine the Fourth
Amendment, supports this out-of-bounds idea. Fortunately, a lot of people -
conservatives and liberals alike - do not. Let's hope they prevail and this
provision is dropped.