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Wiretapping And National Security: Nixon, The Mitchell Doctrine, And The White Panthers. Volume I., Jeff A. Hale

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation discusses a modern version of a constitutional struggle which has characterized American democracy since the first days of the Republic: the citizen's right to privacy versus the Government's need to guarantee "national security." It addresses the Supreme Court's landmark Fourth Amendment wiretapping decision of June 1972, U.S. v. U.S. District Court, which ruled unconstitutional the so-called "Mitchell Doctrine", the Nixon Administration's attempt to gain Judicial sanction for "national security" wiretaps without prior court order of suspected "domestic subversive" groups. In its unanimous Keith decision, the Court upheld the "primacy of warrants" in domestic intelligence investigations. Keith remains the …