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The Supreme Court And National Security, Osmond K. Fraenkel

Washington Law Review

The framers of the Constitution well understood that fear for the safety of the state might result in tyranny and injustice. In the 17th Century, England had had a spate of treason trials, many of them spurred by the notorious informer Titus Oates. In the 18th, John Wilkes' fight against general warrants had had its echoes in Massachusetts. The speech of James Otis on similar abuses was described by John Adams as the birth of the "child Independence." And France had yielded many instances by its use of the infamous lettres de cachet. No doubt these examples contributed to the …