AP US Government & Politics

This blog is for students in Ms. Aby-Keirstead's AP US Government class in Bloomington, MN. It is for students to post their thoughts on current events and governmental affairs. Students should be respectful & think of this forum as an extension of their classroom. The instructor has the same expectations for classroom discussion & blog posts. These posts will be graded for both their academic merit & for their appropriateness.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Welcome to Tri 2!

According to the Fourth Amendment, "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."  This amendment was written and ratified in a very different time - one where there was no internet, no email, no cell phones, etc.  There has been a significant dialogue since this summer about what expectations of privacy should we as Americans have and when and when is it not legitimate for the US government to listen/monitor/record our digital communication.  Considering the NSA/Snowden scandal answer the following questions:

- Is the NSA violating our 4th Amendment rights and if so whose responsibility is it to rein them in?
- What are examples of governmental actions you find constitutional and what are examples of governmental action  you find unconstitutional under the 4th Amendment in the name of national security?

This post is due on Friday, December 13th but the response post isn't due until Friday, January 10th.  Please use a minimum of 3 sources.  If you don't know where to go I highly recommend going to the Guardian - their reporter Glenn Greenwold broke the Snowden story and they have a lot of coverage.  

Good luck and let me know if you need help finding research to back up your opinions.  

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