Robert Torricelli: “The right of persons to be secure in houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be…”

“The right of persons to be secure in houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, the fourth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Today we are told it is an inconvenience, it is in the way of the police, it did not apply to the States until 1961 anyway. It is the Bill of Rights, and every Member comes to this floor every day and pledges allegiance to that Constitution and has sworn an oath to it. It is not always going to be convenient and sometimes it is going to cause problems. And yes, I say to the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Schiff], it did not apply to the States in these cases until 1961. But the Supreme Court of the United States, the people of this country, had decided in each generation, in each decade to expand its powers, because for 200 years we have understood that the principal danger to the freedom of the people of this country was expanding Government power. For 200 years we have understood the very cause of our revolution, that we wanted to be secure in our homes, that we feared the criminal and lawlessness, but we also feared a government so content in its own powers that it would enter our own homes and violate our own rights.”