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12/05/2003 Archived Entry: "Are Cops Constitutional?"

NOW HERE'S SOME FINE WEEKEND READING. Jon Roland's Constitution.org has just added this challenging and thoughtful law-journal article that asks a question few people want to consider: "Are Cops Constitutional?"

ABSTRACT

Police work is often lionized by jurists and scholars who claim to employ "textualist" and "originalist" methods of constitutional interpretation. Yet professional police were unknown to the United States in 1789, and first appeared in America almost a half-century after the Constitution's ratification. The Framers contemplated law enforcement as the duty of mostly private citizens, along with a few constables and sheriffs who could be called upon when necessary. This article marshals extensive historical and legal evidence to show that modern policing is in many ways inconsistent with the original intent of America's founding documents. The author argues that the growth of modern policing has substantially empowered the state in a way the Framers would regard as abhorrent to their foremost principles.

Posted by Claire @ 12:42 PM CST
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