What challenges does fourth amendment face after 0911?

Answer 1

Rather a few I'd say. For a very brief start, the 4th Amendent deals with "due process of law." The US government, is structured in a tripartite format: Judicial, Executice and Legislative. Due process has always been based on a set of checks and balances, wherein law enforcement (Executive Branch) is overseen by the Judicial branch (the courts). After 9/11, much legislation, spearheaded by the PATRIOT Act, allowed for searches to be initiated, approved and enacted solely by Law Enforcement, without any judicial oversite whatsoever, and without later recourse to the judicial system (e.g. if your house is raided under the auspices of an Administrative Letter from a branch of law enforcement, enacted "in good faith" (with no further legal test) stating that a search must be performed for "matters of National Security", as defined by the author and without further explanation or justification, you have no recourse in the courts if you feel th4e search was illegal. Many law enforcement agencies, however, avoid this shortcut approach to search as seizure, as there is clearly a Constitutional issue here, that may adversly affect the court's interpretation of the search.). Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay) highlighted other challenges to the 4th Amendment in that, if a subject was declared as a "terrorist", purely by Fiat, they fell between the cracks, neither having access to the 4th Amendment, the American Military Code, or the World Court Tribunal,s dicta. Many were held without access to any legal representation, which flies in the face of the 4th Amendment (whether or not they're military). Justifications were given for this, but these justifications indicated why they were suspending actions required under the Fourth. It bears noting that we don't really have a fully functional, legal definition of a "terrorist" at this time, and are not likely to obtain one in the near future. My attorney informs me that, in most cases, changes since 9/11 pretty much abrogate most if not all of your protections under the 4th Amendment, and threats to the entire Bill of Rights except the Third exist. I fear he was accurate.