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Comment by rayiner

The word "federal" is doing a lot of work in your argument. Would people opposed to a federal court ordering Apple to unlock an iPhone be okay with a state court doing it? I'm going to guess "no." Remember: the Bill of Rights didn't originally limit the states at all. That's a 20th-century invention. And unlike the federal government, the state governments were always understood to be ones with general--rather than enumerated--powers.

As to your final point: while education or healthcare may arguably be outside the scope of the federal government's jurisdiction, national security and suppression of internal rebellion was one of the motivations for creating a strong federal government. Surveillance may be unconstitutional for other reasons, but it's definitely not outside the federal government's enumerated powers.

parent rayiner 10 years ago

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