Ted Poe: “history has shown that free peoples are willing to give up civil liberties or freedom in the name of security. Our…”

“history has shown that free peoples are willing to give up civil liberties or freedom in the name of security. Our forefathers knew this, so our Constitution protects us from government taking rights in the name of security. Mr. Speaker, people have rights. Government has no rights. Government has power and it obtains it when we forfeit our rights to the government. In this time of terrorism, our government uses high-tech surveillance to capture them. This is good. But the fourth amendment states: ``The right of people to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.'' It is the duty of the judiciary, not this body, not even the executive branch, to protect those rights and review searches. When I was a judge in Texas, I signed hundreds of warrants. I was even the State wiretap judge, and I found that warrants make better police officers and they make better criminal cases. In this post-9/11 era, we cannot allow our zeal to be safe to get in the way of judicial review of search warrants and wiretaps while continuing to provide tools for law enforcement to capture those terrorists. You see, Mr. Speaker, we can have it both ways. We can be safe and secure and maintain our civil rights as a free people. That's just the way it is. ____________________”