Object
Fourth Amendment (Bill of Rights — Constitutional Text)
A canonical clause of the Bill of Rights invoked as an authoritative legal text: concise constitutional language protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. It appears not as a distinct prop but as quoted citation and vocal authority—Sam reads and summons its words, staffers cite its clauses, and the amendment functions as an audible, textual anchor in the Oval Office debate about privacy. When treated materially it resides in bound constitutional volumes or legal briefs; in the moment it registers through spoken citation, case law references, and the pointed gesture of a copy of the Bill of Rights or legal notes on the table.
4 appearances
Purpose
To establish legal protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and to serve as a constitutional constraint on government intrusion.
Significance
Serves as the decisive legal counterweight to strict textualism: invoked to recast privacy as a lived, enforceable liberty. Its citation reframes the confirmation fight from academic jurisprudence into tangible human stakes, helping pivot the nomination away from Harrison by grounding policy in constitutional protection rather than pure textual literalism.
Appearances in the Narrative
When this object appears and how it's used