No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
The depths this amendment goes to protect the citizens of the USA from the government is astronomical and In itself shows the will of our founding fathers to protect the people over the government. This amendment makes it clear that it is not supposed to be easy for the government to prosecute anyone and yet we as a people still allowed the Patriot Act that circumvents this amendment and the ideas of several others.
First no person (notice not citizen, not male or female, black or white but person) shall be held to answer for a capital crime, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment of indictment of a Grand Jury (except in cases involving wartime or the military, yes there is an exception here). The Patriot act allows the government to go around a grand jury in cases involving terrorism, well the first problem is who decides which cases involve terrorism and the second what happened to the first line of the fifth amendment? It does not say no person can be tried or interrogated it says Held and imprisonment without charge or trial is being held my friends. It does not say no citizen or employee of the government it says person, which by definition implies all people no matter the nationality. This is because we are to believe our rights are given to us by God and should include all people in the idea of fair treatment, I might add especially those thought to have committed crimes (terrorism is a crime).
Then this Amendment gives us the double Jeopardy clause, which in essence tells us we cannot be tried twice for the same crime, if acquitted we are done and if found guilty serve a sentence and we are done. This is a notion that almost every person in this country understands but do we understand it applies to all people, not just citizens of this country? Nor shall we be compelled to be a witness against ourselves, this idea is simple we do not have to talk if we choose not to, that does not mean that when we do it cannot be used in court. Simply it is the idea that the government must prove itself correct to 12 peers of the accused and not rely on the accused to do their work.
The next few lines are critical because in today’s society we have assumed that the government has a right that they do not, Nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall private property be taken for public use, without compensation. The implication here has many angles and we see them every day, the idea of eminent domain is one, imprisoning terrorists without trial is another or confiscation of property like guns without breaking a law is another. We all know this act of taking, taking land, taking lives and taking time is wrong and yet under the guise of the Patriot Act we do this daily. We should and can go after terror suspects but we should do so under the rules we ourselves expect to be in place for ourselves, after all the amendment states no Person not no citizen.
Another way to look at this is when the government comes to take your property under the guise of terror investigation how will you feel about letting go of it? I for one want the government to be the one hindered not the people, and yes I want to be safe but there is a reason we follow the constitution, and that reason is to ensure the maximum liberty for all people within our borders, to create a law abiding citizenry that include legal aliens as well as naturalized and born citizens. Remember that those who come here illegally many with good intention and hopes and dreams no different than the rest of us but they broke the law as their first act in our nation. We should treat them with respect as per this and all other amendments and have a process in place to deport or start a process that naturalizes them, but open borders is not the answer. For every 100 with good intentions there is one with bad intentions and we must be aware of this. Yet if we demand rights for all people this includes those illegal’s and terror suspects both domestic and foreign and we must remember each time we allow the government to take away even a little of our rights in the name of security we become just a little less American and a little more something else.