Debate: Does Mass Phone Data Collection Violate The 4th Amendment?

John Yoo, a former lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, argues that the NSA's phone records surveillance program is constitutional. Jeff Fusco /Intelligence Squared U.S. hide caption

John Yoo, a former lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, argues that the NSA's phone records surveillance program is constitutional.

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."

Legal scholars and courts have been wrangling for more than a year over whether the National Security Agency's collection of millions of Americans' phone records a program first disclosed to the public by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 violates those protections. Some legal experts disagree over whether the record collection even qualifies as a search or seizure, and, if it does, whether collecting those records is "unreasonable" or requires a warrant.

In a recent Intelligence Squared U.S. debate, two teams of constitutional law experts faced off on the motion "Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Records Violates The Fourth Amendment." In these Oxford-style debates, the team that sways the most people to its side by the end is the winner.

Before the debate, the audience at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia voted 46 percent in favor of the motion and 17 percent against, with 37 percent undecided. After the debate, 66 percent agreed with the motion and 28 percent were opposed. That made the team arguing in favor of the motion the winner of the debate.

Those debating:

FOR THE MOTION

The Constitutional Accountability Center's Elizabeth Wydra, with teammate Alex Abdo of the ACLU, argues that collecting data that can reveal "deeply private information" without suspicion of wrongdoing violates the Fourth Amendment. Jeff Fusco/Intelligence Squared U.S. hide caption

The Constitutional Accountability Center's Elizabeth Wydra, with teammate Alex Abdo of the ACLU, argues that collecting data that can reveal "deeply private information" without suspicion of wrongdoing violates the Fourth Amendment.

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Debate: Does Mass Phone Data Collection Violate The 4th Amendment?