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The
Fourth Amendment, with legal notes.
Cooperate,
Or Else! In a free society, the criminal laws are supposed to be clear so that
citizens will know what conduct is prohibited. With the Hiibel ruling, the Supreme
Court has created a situation where ordinary Americans cannot be sure if they are invoking their
constitutionally-guaranteed rights or whether they are committing a crime.
Picking us off one at a time.
Every week, 15 women gathered at Diane Reiter's Denver home for Bible study, prayer and dinner. There was
no loud music, speeches or other noise. Nonetheless, the Denver zoning administration served Reiter with a
cease-and-desist order citing a municipal ordinance that prohibits more than one "prayer meeting" a month in a
private home.
Conveniently
Tightening the Noose: State Senator Moe Keller (D-Jefferson) has introduced a bill, SB 48, that
would outlaw the right of citizens to use the telephone to alert their fellows to actions taking place in the
Legislature! Unless you, the citizen, had "a prior relationship" with people being contacted, it would
be illegal. That's right, general citizen alerts are specifically verboten.
Volunteer: Vets Hospital Taking Away Freedom
of Religion, Speech. It's a house of worship with none of the symbols. There are no crosses
or Bibles on display at the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center chapel. Blinds cover elaborate
stained glass windows. The reason is a federal policy from the 1950s, but one volunteer says it has been
taken too far. Laud Pitt plans to hand out Christmas cards at the hospital Tuesday. But to do it,
he says, he'll have to be escorted by the chaplain.
MIT Students Gagged by Federal
Court Judge. Three students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were
ordered this morning [8/9/2008] by a federal court judge to cancel their scheduled presentation
about vulnerabilities in Boston's transit fare payment system, violating their First Amendment
right to discuss their important research.
Update:
Boston judge tosses MIT students' gag order.
U.S. District Judge George A. O'Toole, Jr., vacated the temporary 10-day gag order that another judge had instituted
against the three MIT students who were prevented from presenting a talk on security vulnerabilities in the Boston
subway's fare tickets and cards. The judge also threw out a request by the MBTA to expand the restraining
order.
Gun nonsense
in Mississippi. Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Frank Melton has received extensive criticism
for his unusual approach to fighting crime. Melton has accompanied police officers as they conduct
warrantless searches of homes, cars, and individuals. The mayor has even placed private citizens
in "protective custody" without alerting the local district attorney. They may call it "protective
custody" in Jackson, but it looks more like kidnapping from where I'm sitting.
The DC Gun Ban: Understand that
residents of DC can be convicted of a felony and put in prison simply for having a gun in their home, even if
they live in a very dangerous neighborhood. The DC gun ban is no joke, and the legal challenges to the
ban are not simply academic exercises. People's lives and safety are at stake. Gun control
historically serves as a gateway to tyranny. Tyrants from Hitler to Mao to Stalin have sought to
disarm their own citizens, for the simple reason that unarmed people are easier to control.
Travelers'
Laptops May Be Detained At Border. Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other
electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of
wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.
Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for
language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and
issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Editor says...
This is clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment, in the absence of probable cause or
reasonable suspicion.
Public
Pressure Mounts Against Invasive Border Searches. Random, invasive laptop searches and
other digital privacy violations at the U.S. border are facing increasing pressure from the public and
Congress. One of the big complaints EFF and others have had is the lack of information and accountability
about the intrusive examination of computer files, cell phone directories, and other private
information — and the indiscriminate copying of that data — as Americans
come back home from overseas.
Unsuspected travelers' laptops may be detained at
border. This rings all alarm bells (also, the words 'police state' come to mind). I think
that anyone who is considering traveling to the US should think twice before doing so. I wonder what
would happen to anyone who has the 'wrong' combination of digital data and paperwork on him ...
Now
They'll Take Your Laptop. [Scroll down slowly] Being "randomly" wanded and frisked at
an airport-security checkpoint is bad enough, but at least the inconvenience is brief. But the new
seizure policy essentially keeps law-abiding business travelers, with their entire professional lives on
laptops, hostage to a government agency and prevents them from doing their jobs -- again, all without
a hint of probable cause. That's more than an annoyance: It's official theft of your ability
to make a living.
It sounds like
Big Brother is waiting at the airport.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
LA bans racist 'N-word'.
Los Angeles on Friday [11/09/2007] voted to ban the racist "N-word" with city councillors saying they hope the
symbolic gesture will stop people from using the epithet in any context. … America's much-cherished
constitutional right to free speech means anyone using the insult within Los Angeles is not committing a
crime. An identical measure has already been passed in New York.
The Editor says...
Some words are offensive to some people; some are offensive to nearly everybody. But
their use is protected by the First Amendment, even if the speaker lacks self control and
common decency.
The End of "The
Right to Remain Silent": Every kid who has watched a re-run of TV cop shows
knows that "you have the right to remain silent" when the police come knocking. Except
that, now, you don't. In Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District of Nevada, the Supreme
Court, in one stroke, turned Justice Jackson's advice on its head, and turned generations
of TV cop shows into so much false advertising. Silence, said the Court, is not only
not privileged: it can get you thrown in jail.
Court rules home worship
OK. A federal court ruled a Florida county cannot prohibit a rabbi from holding
prayer and worship services in his own home. Rabbi Joseph Konikov of Orlando
was faced with two land-use ordinance violations filed by Orange County.
[Why was that even debatable?]
"Speak
English" sign ruling appealed. A tavern owner is asking a state agency to reconsider
a controversial ruling that declared as discriminatory a sign that says, "For Service Speak
English." … If the ruling stands, tavern owner Tom Ullum could be ordered to remove the sign,
undergo diversity training and pay for anti-discrimination advertising.
Vehicle
Searches Allowed on Ferries, The Fourth Amendment Notwithstanding. Steve Reinmuth, senior deputy
attorney general, said that constitutional prohibition was preempted by an order the Coast Guard issued
June 21 [2004]. Rear Adm. Jeffrey Garrett, commander of the Coast Guard's 13th District, said
the order requires Washington State Ferries to comply with all federal maritime-security requirements effective
July 1 — including physical inspections, if necessary. He would not provide a copy of the
order, again citing security concerns.
Editor's Note:
This is particularly interesting. Not only has the Coast Guard issued an order
superseding the Fourth Amendment, they won't even publish the order. How are Americans
expected to obey laws that can't be made public?
A blow to the Fourth Amendment.
With one "stroke of the pen" the protection We the People have enjoyed against "unreasonable searches and seizures,"
which has stood for well more than two centuries, has been blue-lined into oblivion, at least in three states of the
union. Police are now free in virtually every instance, to search a person's home or office without a warrant,
and without any cause to believe there is contraband therein or a reasonable belief they are in danger.
End election-law nonsense.
We're riding a camel here of destructive impingements on the First Amendment. … I say, pile on the incursions, pile
on the devaluing of our rights. Pile it all on until finally, hopefully, we can break this camel's back.
September 11th Used as Catalyst for Assault on Bill
Of Rights? "The dreadful attacks of September 11th were just the beginning of more attacks
against Americans. The horrific loss of life turned out to be the justification for both parties to
annihilate the Bill of Rights," said Constitution Party National Committee Chairman Jim Clymer.
Federal aid fuels
spending by states. State and local governments have used big increases in federal
aid to help cover higher spending since 2000, a move away from the tradition of using local taxes
to pay for local programs.
The Editor says...
This is a blow to the 10th Amendment. Federal money always has strings attached.
Speaking of the 10th Amendment...
Do More Cops Equal Less Crime? [Scroll
down] Leading the charge is Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who sponsored that bill and is pushing legislation to hire
another 50,000 officers, at a cost of $3.6 billion over six years, under the Community Oriented Policing
Services (COPS) program. … The sponsors suggest the Bush administration has abdicated its crime-fighting
duties by not providing funds for additional hiring. What they conveniently forget is that the program
was supposed to be a temporary boost rather than a permanent obligation. Local law enforcement has
historically been the responsibility of cities and counties, not the federal government.
Why
Ignore Supreme Court's Threat To Free Press? Having spent years as a
newspaper reporter and editor, I am proud to be called an "ink-stained wretch." But I
am mystified by the newsroom silence about a legal dagger aimed at the heart
of the First Amendment and the free press.
Court Opens Door To Searches Without
Warrants. It's a groundbreaking court decision that legal experts say will affect everyone:
Police officers in Louisiana no longer need a search or arrest warrant to conduct a brief search of your home or
business. Leaders in law enforcement say it will keep officers safe, but others argue it's a privilege
that could be abused.
Our Republic on the Ropes: I
join the chorus of voices condemning the assault that Congress and the Supreme Court have inflicted on the First
Amendment — on our most essential, fundamental speech: the ability to criticize our elected
officials.
The Federalization of Medicine. [Scroll
down] Even though three months of surveillance produced no evidence he had sold or given away any medication,
and even though he'd been prescribed the same dosages for years, the weight of the drugs alone (which,
ironically, mostly contained acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol) was enough to provoke the
mandatory minimum sentence. While [Richard] Paey was in prison, officials refilled a morphine pump that
he had fitted during the course of the proceedings. That pump, paid for by the state of Florida,
delivered over the course of each 48 hour period a larger dose of opioid medication than Paey had been
convicted of possessing in the first place.
The Editor says...
The story above is included here because the case shows how the 9th and 10th Amendments are being
routinely ignored by the federal government.
Warrants as a Security
Countermeasure. More and more, we are living in a society where we are all
tracked automatically all of the time. We can all be tracked by our cell
phones. E-ZPass tracks cars at tunnels and bridges. [In Dallas, they're
called Toll Tags.] Security cameras record us. Our purchases are tracked by
banks and credit card companies, our telephone calls by phone companies, our Internet
surfing habits by Web site operators. The Department of Justice claims that it needs
these, and other, search powers to combat terrorism.
The
Liberal Assault on Freedom of Speech: America has less freedom of
speech today than it has ever had in its history. Yet it is widely believed
that it has more.
Quartered
Among Us: Through various pretexts, the military is gradually interjecting
itself into domestic law enforcement in contravention of the Posse Comitatus Act.
Maryland
Police Say Disabled Man Has "No Good Reason" For Handgun: The State of Maryland has denied a
physically disabled citizen a permit to carry a concealed handgun because he does not have a "good and
substantial reason" to be armed.
Stories of Anguish
at the Hands of Police: Nine stories of abuse at the hands of California policemen.
State Inserts Itself Into Church
Dispute: In a highly unusual move, the Iowa Supreme Court has decided to get involved in a
church-related defamation case. At issue is the use of the phrase "spirit of Satan."
Defend your family, go to
jail. A Brooklyn man who shot and wounded an intruder while defending his family will spend three
days in Rikers Island, the same jail housing the burglar who terrorized his home, because he owns an
unregistered gun.
Top
Ten Campus Follies of 2002: [For example] An American University student was pinned down and
handcuffed outside a Tipper Gore speech by plainclothes campus police who refused to identify themselves.
The student was charged with stealing Gore's intellectual property by videotaping her speech, which was open to
the public.
The feds are drunk with their power. Colorado is
being blackmailed with its own tax dollars to lower the Blood Alcohol Content allowed while driving.
Forced
Drugging Case Headed to Supreme Court: For more than four years, Missouri dentist Charles Sell has
waited in a federal prison for his trial on charges of Medicaid fraud, and the delay is attributed to the
government's persistent argument that Sell is not mentally competent to stand trial unless he is forcibly
drugged.
The other terrorism:
There's no real war on drugs, but it sounds and looks good. The half-hearted attempt, the resultant
crime and costs to society provide fuel for the drug-legalization crowd.
California police state:
The totalitarians are fully in control of America's largest state. The California Supreme Court ruled
4-3 last Thursday [1/24/2002] that police in the state may search cars if a driver fails to produce a license
or registration, regardless of whether the officer has a warrant.
More Injustice on the Way:
Gene Healy, a Cato Institute scholar, recently provided a thorough exploration of the unintended consequences of the
new Bush-Ashcroft plan to federalize gun crimes, known as the Project Safe Neighborhoods program. The unintended
consequences of this law are frightening.
Temptation
averted: no "Lord's Prayer" at Woodbine. Woodbine [Iowa] High School
was the center of attention Sunday over whether "The Lord's Prayer" would find its way
into its graduation ceremony. In the end, the song didn't. School officials,
graduates and the community abided by a federal judge's decision to ban the song following
a lawsuit by two sophomore choir members from an atheist family.
Anti-gun Rep. Waxman Tries to Boot
TV Cameraman From House Hearing: Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., tried unsuccessfully Thursday
[4/18/2002] to have an accredited TV news photographer thrown out of a House subcommittee hearing. The
hearing focused on whether to limit liability lawsuits against gun makers. Waxman, who favors gun control,
insisted the cameraman was videotaping on behalf of the National Rifle Association.
Accounts
of Press Censorship Surface in Washington: At least two accounts
of credentialed members of the news media being ordered not to take photographs
or record videotape from public sidewalks in non-secure areas were learned of Friday.
Federal
Judge Orders Ten Commandments Removed: Threatened by fines, residents of a small town in Indiana
say they were forced to remove a monument displaying the Ten Commandments from the lawn of the local
courthouse, after a federal judge ruled on behalf of the state's civil liberties union.
Couple
Sues to Continue Home Prayer Sessions after the local zoning board
ordered them to stop holding prayer services in their home.
Sting Operations and the Separation of Powers:
To detect and prosecute laws prohibiting victimless crimes, government typically curtails civil liberties and,
by standing in for a real victim, creates opportunities for abuse and corruption in sting operations.
Sometimes, prosecution of these crimes is furthered by offering various considerations to one member of the
conspiracy at the expense of the others. This would normally be called bribery and subornation of perjury
and is likely illegal, although commonplace.
The Death of Talk
Radio: With Bush in the White House, talk radio gets a reprieve, but not a pardon.
The new man to watch is Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Concerned that no liberal answer to
Rush Limbaugh has yet appeared on the national scene, Daschle and his disciples may yet attempt to return to the
Bad Old Days of government control of radio talk.
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