Do you know the most common topic addressed in the Bill of Rights – the topic addressed by four of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution?
With Bill of Rights Day being December 15, which is the 232nd anniversary of the ratification of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, conservative commentators are likely to focus on the First Amendment protections against government interference in our right to freely worship, assemble, speak, write, and petition the government. Others will focus on the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. Still others will remind us of the Tenth Amendment, which reserves for the states and the people the powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution itself.
All of those are important, of course, and should be celebrated. However, we can’t ignore the subject covered more than any other in the Bill of Rights: criminal justice.
Four of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights address that topic. And the focus is not on ensuring the government has the power to define and enforce the law; that’s covered in the body of the Constitution itself.
Instead, these amendments reflect, as do all ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, a healthy suspicion and distrust of unchecked power being vested in government officials. The Framers of the Constitution had seen first-hand the abuse of governmental power against the people, and they sought to enshrine certain protections against such abuse.
So, what is included in these amendments?
The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures of “their persons, houses, papers, and effects” and against any search or seizure without probable cause and without a warrant specifying the person(s), place(s), and/or thing(s) allowed to be searched or seized.
The Fifth Amendment includes several protections:
· “No person shall be held to answer” for a felony unless there is an indictment from a grand jury.
· No one is, for the same offense, “to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.”
· No one is to be required to testify against themselves in any criminal case.
· No
Read original article by clicking here.