The Fourth and Fifth amendments to the US Constitution deal with searches and property seizures. As I said before, the Fourth prohibits "unreasonable" searches and seizures, the problem being that "unreasonable" is a subjective word that can, and has been, interpreted a number of different ways by the courts over the years. The Fifth says, among other things, that no person shall be "deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law", and that's the loophole. It seems to say that they can't do it unless they pass a law that says they can do it. It goes on to say, "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation". The problem here is that "just" is also a subjective word, what one person calls "just" may differ from what another person call "just". This is only applies to the federal government, but the 14th Amendment also says, "nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law", so there you have it.
Happy New Year.
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