The Fourth Amendment

The Text

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

What It Says

Government cannot search you, your home, your papers, or your property without a warrant. A warrant requires sworn probable cause and must name exactly what is being searched and what is being taken.

What It Protects Against

General warrants. Writs of assistance let British customs officers search any home for any reason with no named target and no expiration. The specificity requirement exists to make that impossible.

Sourced to a ratification-era document. See Contemporaneous Defense below.

Problem Addressed

Writs of assistance were open-ended search warrants issued to customs officers, valid for the life of the sovereign, requiring no probable cause and naming no target.

Contemporaneous Defense

James Otis argued against writs of assistance before the Massachusetts Superior Court in February 1761, calling them the worst instrument of arbitrary power. John Adams, present in the courtroom, later wrote that American independence was born there.