CONSTITUTION DAY DISCUSSION Constitution Day Discussion

There is no doubt that different times dictate different rules that is tightly connected with new realities, scientific progress and technological advancement. In the recent years, there have been numerous discussions touching the subject of the United States Constitution and its compliance with current trends, scientific discoveries and other peculiarities of a modern life. Some specialists claim that it is essential to transform the Constitution adapting it to current needs and level of human development. In fact, scientific and technological progress creates a lot of problems in applying rules introduced by the Constitution to the concrete life situations. For instance, the First Amendment proclaims the freedom of speech and press that theoretically enables scientists to explore all spheres of knowledge. However, there are a lot of controversial opinions regarding particular scientific subjects that are even defined as forbidden knowledge. For example, stem cells research sparkles a lot of protests and is in the epicenter of the ethical conflict. Practically, the constitutional rights of stem cells researchers are violated when they are not allowed to continue their scientific experiments and publish the outcomes. However, a lot of people believe that this research should not be allowed due to it amoral nature. There is no doubt that freedom of the press applies to scientific publications. Electronic publications are also regulated by this law. However, although researchers are officially able to distribute the results of their scientific experiments, they are often prohibited to disclose certain content. For example, information related to genetic reconstitution of potentially lethal viruses or development of biochemicals that could lead to mass destruction, would be definitely classified. Hence, although the Constitution of the United States allows publication of all types of researches, data is often kept in secret due to regulations and procedures imposed by the government, defense agencies, etc. The mentioned regulations

CONSTITUTION DAY DISCUSSION

violate the Constitution but at the same time prevent disastrous consequences. Hence, it is even necessary for the government to control researchers and classify certain content. However, it is also possible to modify the Constitution and include exceptions from the right to freedom. The Fourth Amendment proclaims the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures (the U.S. Constitution, 2012, p.1). However, modern criminology widely uses DNA, blood, semen and other biological substances for identification of criminals (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1987). Personally I believe that it is reasonable when law enforcement units obtain access to the mentioned substances if their evidence proves the necessity of this access for a successful implementation of the investigation. Theoretically it may be viewed as the violation of the Fourth Amendment, however, the Constitution was created many years ago and the creators would probably make this exclusion if they could envision such a possibility of investigating crimes in the future. Another discussed topic is a life- long quarantine of AIDS sufferers. I believe that this measure as well as a mandatory AIDS testing would be unconstitutional because they abuse privacy and freedom of individuals. Nevertheless, if AIDS sufferers know about their status, they should take responsibility and make every effort to avoid infection of other people. In this case, if other people are infected due to negligence or bad intent, the AIDS sufferer has to bear a criminal responsibility. However, if a violent psychotic murderer could be reliably cured with modern pharmaceutical chemistry or genetic (biochemical) therapy, it is possible for the government to treat him without his consent because it would improve his state and give him a chance to become a social being again. In general, it is understandable that the Constitution has to be amended or filled with exceptions and clarifications corresponding the

CONSTITUTION DAY DISCUSSION most controversial issues and cases of modern life.

References The United States Constitution. 2012. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. Retrieved from http://www.usconstitution.net/const.txt U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. (1987). Science, Technology, and the