Thanks to a link from fark.com, I went to a website regarding a story about MIT and Boston College’s stance against the RIAA. At the very end of the article, I read this:
Doing a little research, I turned first to the dictionary and then to Wikipedia’s info on supoenas:
I found this quite interesting since I thought it that only judges could issue supoenas. However, I assume that regardless of who originates it, the judge has to give authority to it. Otherwise, we’d end up with a mess like in the Clerks episode where Randal starts calling in witnesses who have nothing to do with the case.
But without judiciary approval, doesn’t the ability to issue supoenas at will violate the idea of disallowing unreasonable search and seizure, since the judge is taken out of the decision making process, or at least an invasion of privacy without due process?