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Rand Paul Campaign Press Release - Upholding the Right to Privacy is a Core Constitutional Value

May 13, 2015

The Washington Times

By Andrew P. Napolitano

May 13, 2015

A decision last week about National Security Agency spying by a panel of judges on the United States Court of Appeals in New York City sent shock waves through the government. The court ruled that a section of the Patriot Act that is due to expire at the end of this month and on which the government has relied as a basis for its bulk acquisition of telephone data during the past 14 years does not authorize that acquisition.

This may sound like legal mumbo jumbo, but it goes to the heart of the relationship between the people and their government in a free society. Here is the backstory and the latest.

The Patriot Act is the centerpiece of the federal government's false claims that by surrendering our personal liberties, it can somehow keep us safe. The liberty-for-safety offer has been around for millennia and was poignant at the time of the founding of the American republic.

The Framers addressed it in the Constitution itself, where they recognized the primacy of the right to privacy and insured against its violation by intentionally forcing the government to jump through some difficult hoops before it can capture our thoughts, words or private behavior.

Those hoops are the requirement of a search warrant issued by a judge and based on evidence — called probable cause — demonstrating that it is more likely than not that the government will find what it is looking for from the person or place it is targeting. Only then may a judge issue a warrant, which must specifically describe the place to be searched or specifically identify the person or thing to be seized.

Click here to continue reading the full article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/13/andrew-napolitanio-rand-paul-and-ted-cruz-on-the-p/

Rand Paul, Rand Paul Campaign Press Release - Upholding the Right to Privacy is a Core Constitutional Value Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/316918

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