Glass Maze Every jumbled pile of person

Different Shades of Ignorance

Here’s an interesting exchange between Knight-Ridder reporter Jonathan Landay and Michael Hayden, Bush’s nominee for CIA Director:

JONATHAN LANDAY: My understanding is that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American’s right against unlawful searches and seizures.

MICHAEL HAYDEN: No, actually, the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure. That’s what it says.

JONATHAN LANDAY: But the measure is “probable cause,” I believe.

MICHAEL HAYDEN: The amendment says “unreasonable search and seizure.”

JONATHAN LANDAY: But does it not say “probable – “

MICHAEL HAYDEN: No.

JONATHAN LANDAY: The court standard, the legal standard –

MICHAEL HAYDEN: The amendment says, “unreasonable search and seizure.”

Hmm. Here’s the text of the fourth amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

The head of an agency whose boundaries this amendment defines should probably know what it is says. Somehow, I’m not very surprised that he doesn’t. I think the real question here is whether this is ignorance, willful ignorance, or just straight-up lying? All three possibilities are just different shades of bad, but still, it would be interesting to know. A lot of this administration’s policies have been conceived in the dark spaces between willful ignorance and untruth, so I’m guessing that’s where the twisted creature that’s been tracking our phone calls was born.

hopefully this guy is not a lawyer. this is bar exam basics!