Supreme Court Ruling Allows Strip-Searches For Any Arrest

by Bangalore 61 Replies latest jw friends

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  Bangalore

  Supreme Court Ruling Allows Strip-Searches For Any Arrest.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/us/justices-approve-strip-searches-for-any-offense.html

  Bangalore
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  NewChapter

  Yep. Split down party lines again---as usual. itty bitty government
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  Bangalore

  Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  - Benjamin Franklin

  Bangalore
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  truth_b_known

  I worked as a correctional officer in a county jail for 7 years. I've seen everything from a 12 inch strap on dildo to narcotics to weapons make it past the booking area into the inmate housing areas because officers were not allowed to strip search pre-sentenced inmates. Strips searches are normally performed on arrestees who are not bonding out and are being processed for housing in population.
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  yourmomma

  add this to nazi style check points, both dui check points, and random tsa check points on high ways, etc. i used to think those who claimed the USA was becoming a police state, and thought that was crazy talk by loons like alex jones. while i still think alex jones is a loon, the fact is, the USA is becoming a police state. the behavior of police and the appaling legislation being passed is just shocking to me. on a daily basis i am embarassed to be an american.
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  james_woods

  Anybody given any thought on how this ruling may relate to the court split on the constitutionality of ObamaCare?
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  NewChapter

  Well the NDAA has destroyed the bill of rights already. We shouldn't be surprised that we can now be strip search for overdue fines. Return your library books!
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  leavingwt

  Anybody given any thought on how this ruling may relate to the court split on the constitutionality of ObamaCare?

  Yes. If Obamacare is struck down, this strip search ruling will (almost) provide free colonoscopies.
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  james_woods

  Yes. If Obamacare is struck down, this strip search ruling will (almost) provide free colonoscopies.

  Very funny, LeavingWT. Just hilarious, in fact.

  What I meant was - did any of the posters above know what the SC vote count was, and whether this was done by the left, right, or so-called swing vote justices...
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  james_woods

  OK - I found my own answer:

  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.
  
  Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by the court’s conservative wing, wrote that courts are in no position to second-guess the judgments of correctional officials who must consider not only the possibility of smuggled weapons and drugs but also public health and information about gang affiliations.
  
  About 13 million people are admitted each year to the nation’s jails, Justice Kennedy wrote.
  
  Under Monday’s ruling, he wrote, "every detainee who will be admitted to the general population may be required to undergo a close visual inspection while undressed."
  
  Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for the four dissenters, said strip-searches were “a serious affront to human dignity and to individual privacy” and should be used only when there was good reason to do so.

  I might point out to Justice Breyer that going to jail is supposed to be a serious affront to human dignity, and that there is obvious reason to do this when taking an inmate from the outside into jail. It has, in fact, been done for years and this is a technical clarification.

  Looks like the conservative part of the court prevailed here - Obamacare, next?