Remember When Congress Voted Down the Very Text of the Fourth Amendment in 1995?

Back in 1995, after the Republicans had recently taken a majority in Congress, they pushed for a bill that would allow unlawfully seized evidence to be use in court more.  Democrat Mel Watt (NC-12) decided to offer up as an amendment to the bill the exact 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 Warrants 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"

Congress voted it down 303 to 121. 228 Republicans and 75 Democrats voted against it.  The 121 supporters were all Democrats.

As we begin to have a long-needed discussion of privacy rights and the government's attack on 4th amendment rights particularly under Bush and Obama, I thought it would be fun to revisit this roll call vote and to look at the votes of those still in Congress today.

Now, a few of the representatives at the time are now in the Senate.

Five of them voted for the 4th amendment:
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Four of them voted against it:

Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)

The following still-sitting House Democrats all voted for the 4th amendment:

Ed Pastor (AZ-07)

Doris Matsui (CA-06)
Nancy Pelosi (CA-12)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Sam Farr (CA-20)
Henry Waxman (CA-33)
Xavier Becerra (CA-34)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)

Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)

Corrine Brown (FL-05)
Alcee Hastings (FL-20)

Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
John Lewis (GA-05)

Bobby Rush (IL-01)
Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)

Pete Visclosky (IN-01)

Richard Neal (MA-05)

Sander Levin (MI-09)
John Dingell (MI-12)
John Conyers (MI-13)

Bennie Thompson (MS-02)

Mel Watt (NC-12)

Nydia Velazquez (NY-07)
Jerry Nadler (NY-10)
Carolyn Maloney (NY-12)
Charlie Rangel (NY-13)
Jose Serrano (NY-15)
Eliot Engel (NY-16)
Louise Slaughter (NY-25)

Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)

Pete DeFazio (OR-04)

Chaka Fattah (PA-02)

Jim Clyburn (SC-06)

Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Eddie Johnson (TX-30)

Bobby Scott (VA-02)

Jim McDermott (WA-07)

And these 10 House Democrats voted against it:

Anna Eshoo (CA-18)
Ed Markey (MA-05)
Steny Hoyer (MD-05)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Rob Andrews (NJ-01)
Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
Nita Lowey (NY-17)
Mike Doyle (PA-18)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-10)
Nick Rahall (WV-03)

What's up with that, Frank Pallone and Ed Markey?

And these still-sitting Republicans all voted against the very text of the 4th amendment as well:

Don Young (AK)
Spencer Bachus (AL-06)
Matt Salmon (AZ-05)
Buck McKeon (CA-25)
Ken Calvert (CA-42)
John Mica (FL-07)
Bill Young (FL-13)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27)
Jack Kingston (GA-01)
Tom Latham (IA-03)
Ed Whitfield (KY-01)
Hal Rogers (KY-05)
Dave Camp (MI-04)
Fred Upton (MI-06)
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Howard Coble (NC-06)
Frank LoBiondo (NJ-02)
Chris Smith (NJ-04)
Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11)
Pete King (NY-02)
Steve Chabot (OH-01)
Frank Lucas (OK-03)
Mark Sanford (SC-01)
Jimmy Duncan (TN-02)
Ralph Hall (TX-04)  changed parties in 2004
Joe Barton (TX-06)
Mac Thornberry (TX-13)
Lamar Smith (TX-21)
Bob Goodlatte (VA-06)
Frank Wolf (VA-10)
James Sensenbrenner (WI-05)
Tom Petri (WI-06)