Martin Heinrich: “I would ask the Senator from Kentucky an additional question. I found it very helpful before I came to the floor…”

“I would ask the Senator from Kentucky an additional question. I found it very helpful before I came to the floor today--and I want to thank my colleague again for raising these critical issues--to go back and read the Fourth Amendment, and I thought it would be worthwhile just to briefly read that once again here on the floor because I think it really puts you in the mind of some of the greatest Americans who ever lived. Our Framers wrote a constitution that has survived for well over 200 years now. It has survived Republicans. It has survived Democrats. It has survived political parties that came and went, and it has survived great conflicts time and again. The Fourth Amendment says: ``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.'' I would ask my friend from Kentucky his views on the resilience of this constitutional document and how he can possibly read the actual text of this Fourth Amendment without realizing that those Framers really meant for this to apply into the future to things that we hadn't foreseen yet but using the broadest terminology available, such as words like effects and papers? I yield the floor and thank the Senator from Kentucky once again.…”