Independent Research Graduate Paper

摘要

The Constitution of the United States, the basic legal framework Americans aretaught to understand and treasure, embodies many freedoms they have come to cherish, particularly in the face of adversity or world crisis. The founding fathers, suffering great indignities imposed upon them by Great Britain, possessed keen insight, for they created a relatively simple document which has carried this nation for over two hundred years. Although it lacks typical modern-day legalese, the Constitution and its Amendments have ever been the source of much interpretation and debate, scholarly and otherwise. This paper delves into Constitutional analyses with a goal of providing a clearer understanding of the Fifth and Fourth Amendments, with particular emphasis on the Fourth Amendment as it concerns federal employee workplace searches and seizures by supervisors or co-workers. We begin with a historical overview of the Fifth Amendment, and its treatment and application, in both criminal and civil proceedings. Continuing with an in-depth historical analysis of the Fourth Amendment focusing on criminal law, we examine the judicially created exclusionary rule, its policy, history and application, and conclude assessing the interplay between the Fifth and Fourth Amendments. The core of this paper examines the Fourth Amendment, specifically looking at two United States Supreme Court cases, United States v O'Connor and United States v Janis as they relate to unreasonable searches and seizures within the federal workplace. We build upon those cases by analyzing application of the exclusionary rule in various state and federal employment settings, including two recent Merit Systems Protection Board (hereinafter, the Board) cases, and miscellaneous civil proceedings.