Without the Second Amendment, the rest are vulnerable. Even with it, rights are usurped all the time. A recent Fourth Amendment win pulls into focus just how fragile everything is.
It’s a slippery slope when rights start to get violated. Especially when it comes to our protections of having our persons and papers secured, right to not self-incriminate, and right to an attorney. It’s a simple formula to follow and remember when dealing with the authorities: “I want to invoke my Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights.” Or in other words: you can’t look/come in here, I’m telling you nothing, and I want my lawyer. But what happens when a governmental body creates a law that violates those protections from warrantless and suspicion-less searches?
Pennsylvania attorney Josh Prince with the Civil Rights Defense Firm, P.C. had a client in this very circumstance. According to a post on Prince’s website, “Bristol Borough enacted an ordinance permitting their enforcement officers/inspectors, on a biennial basis, to inspect – absent any form of warrant or any form of suspicion of wrongdoing – any building, and the apartments within, where the apartments are rented or leased out.”
When Prince’s client refused the Borough to gain entry to his property, “the Borough sent a letter to … (him), expecting him to capitulate, and threatening fines for non-compliance. …” The penalties that Prince’s client was facing included a fine up to $1,000.00 per day as well as potential incarceration.
“(Prince) attempted to amicably resolve the matter, by the Borough agreeing not to enforce the unconstitutional ordinance against his clients, the Borough’s attorney responded back that the only amicable resolution would be for Josh’s clients to comply with the Borough’s ordinances,” Prince’s post noted.
After filing for an emergency injunction in Katz, et al. v. Bristol Borough, et al., Katz was granted some of the relief he sought. Prince obtained “an emergency, ex-parte preliminary injunction, precluding enforcement of Bristol Borough’s warrantless and suspicion-less searches of his clients’ buildings and apartments” and a future hearing was scheduled for a permanent injunction.
One hiccup Prince noted about the proceedings was the bond that his client was required to post. It was said that the judge ordered a $5,000.00 bond to be posted. While it might be customary to ask for someone similarly situated to post bond, Prince said that usually would run from anywhere between $1.00 and $100.00 — not $5,000.00. He’s hopeful that the court will not hold onto the bond for long.
The fact that Prince was able to secure the injunction as swiftly as he did may point at how the court views the merits of the case. “Because emergency injunctions are issued ex-parte (i.e. without the other side being heard), they are virtually unheard of, except in dire circumstances, where a clear violation of the law or constitution will occur, absent immediate court action,” Prince’s post explains.
When it comes to constitutional rights and liberties, they’re all closely connected. What of the Second Amendment right if one is having their Fourth usurped? Once one thread begins to unravel or break, it won’t be long until all is lost. Kudos to Prince on this monumental win.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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