http://www.scotusblog.com/2005/11/yesterdays-argument-in-georgia-v-randolph/ The Supreme Court of the United States blog Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:38:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.scotusblog.com/2005/11/yesterdays-argument-in-georgia-v-randolph/#comment-8294 Scott de B. Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:02:14 +0000 http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/uncategorized/yesterdays-argument-in-georgia-v-randolph/#comment-8294 The oral arguments in this case were posted today. During the argument, while there was some dancing around original intent and social expectation, I was surprised that no one brought up an issue that I think would be of concern to the founders. With all the discussion about social equals (with some nod to the issue of the consent of minors), there was no talk about social unequals -- such as the relationship between a master and servant. Would any of the Founding Fathers have agreed that a butler could consent to a search of property in which he resided in the face of an express refusal by his master? I think not. Note that I am not saying that the husband-wife relationship is of this type, but that the idea of 'consent of one resident trumps all' would not I think fly with the originators of the Fourth Amendment. The oral arguments in this case were posted today. During the argument, while there was some dancing around original intent and social expectation, I was surprised that no one brought up an issue that I think would be of concern to the founders. With all the discussion about social equals (with some nod to the issue of the consent of minors), there was no talk about social unequals — such as the relationship between a master and servant. Would any of the Founding Fathers have agreed that a butler could consent to a search of property in which he resided in the face of an express refusal by his master? I think not. Note that I am not saying that the husband-wife relationship is of this type, but that the idea of ‘consent of one resident trumps all’ would not I think fly with the originators of the Fourth Amendment.

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