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Constitutional limits on police action
Summary of the topic
Every power a Texas peace officer has sits underneath two constitutions, the federal one and the Texas one. The Fourth Amendment and article I, section 9 of the Texas Constitution set the standard of reasonableness for every search and for every seizure of a person, whether or not a warrant was obtained.
Both provisions also say what a warrant needs. It must rest on probable cause, it must be supported by an oath or affirmation, and it must describe the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized. The Texas text says the description must be given "as near as may be".
The Fifth and Sixth Amendments and article I, section 10 of the Texas Constitution protect the accused in a criminal case. No one can be compelled to give evidence against themselves, and the accused has a speedy and public trial, notice of the accusation, confrontation of the witnesses, compulsory process for their own witnesses and the assistance of counsel. The Texas section restates those rights in its own words and adds the right to demand the nature and cause of the accusation with a copy of it, and the right of being heard by oneself or counsel, or both. It also requires a grand jury indictment for a criminal offense, with the exceptions the section lists.
Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment binds the states directly. No state may deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, or deny anyone the equal protection of the laws. A peace officer acts for the state, so both limits apply to what the officer does.
Article I, section 19 of the Texas Constitution has its own wording, "the due course of the law of the land". The federal text is the minimum that binds Texas through the Fourteenth Amendment, while the Texas text is a separate guarantee in separate words. A Texas provision can therefore be read to protect more than the federal minimum, but never less.
The way to learn this topic is to know each guarantee by its exact words and its home provision, and then to know where the Texas wording differs from the federal wording.
Provisions this topic covers
- United States Constitution, Amendments 4, 5, 6 and 14
- Texas Constitution art. I, sections 9, 10 and 19
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