Political Quotes

“I rise to speak to the issue of the constitutionality of the proposal proposed by the President of the United States and endorsed here by Senator Dole and others in this amendment that relate to whether or not there is able to be a genuine consent given in a lease or a contract by a public housing resident in essentially giving up their fourth amendment rights. I will speak to this in much more detail, but let me say I think it is a close call, whether it can be done. There is no question that there is a need for greater law enforcement, greater police presence, greater security for public housing residents. There is no doubt about that. The supporters of this consent measure--and I recognize that the supporters include the Attorney General, whose views are entitled to the greatest respect--argue that this measure is constitutional because it builds on established Supreme Court precedent relating to consent searches. This precedent holds that citizens may waive their constitutional right to be free from police searches, and that consent searches are constitutionally valid, so long as the consent is freely given.”