Last night I sent a link to M. Simon about how the Supreme Court has systematically destroyed the Fourth Amendment. What shocks me the most is that only a few libertarian cranks on the right and the ACLU on the left care.
Under the noxious “emergency” doctrine (which gives any evildoer anywhere in the world the de facto power to direct a SWAT team into any American home), the Fourth Amendment has been effectively made a legal nullity. Any anonymous and untraceable phone call alleging an “emergency” supplies good cause for police breaking down the door.
“The Fourth Amendment is gone!” I wailed.
Simon remarked that the Fourth Amendment was destroyed a long time before that – “the drug war exception.” I guess that was and is an “emergency” too. Such emergencies are destroying us. I’d rather live with the possibility of danger and protect myself, but I guess that makes me a crank.
Anyway, I was thinking about this exchange when the Supreme Court weighed in again on our freedom. As usual, the answer was no. (The precedent for federal jurisdiction over the minutiae in our private lives can of course be found in the damn drug war, as if I need to say that again. (Freedom has a long history of losing 5-4.)
People who think we can count on the court to protect our freedoms are hallucinating.
And most of them aren’t even on drugs.
Comments
6 responses to “Don’t worry! The Supreme Court will protect us!”
You’re behind the curve. I’ve been complaining about that since Bush the Elder helped usher in forfeiture laws, and drug enforcement became indistinguishable from piracy.
I thought “piracy” was the new word for sharing.
🙂
You’re behind the curve. I’ve been complaining about that since Bush the Elder helped usher in forfeiture laws, and drug enforcement became indistinguishable from piracy.
You are late to the game (I will excuse you for your youth) I have been howling and acting since Nixon on that one.
Thanks Eric,
I wrote this one in response to a bunch of boys bartering their Freedom. What was it worth? They only got to billions and trillions. Willing to sell out cheap.
http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=86743#86743
I’m going to turn it into a post.
Eric, I’ve been reading you long enough to recognize that you have known this for quite a while, just haven’t made it explicit, possibly even to yourself. We sometimes need the hard knocks of experience to crystallize our thoughts, and that can be quite a shock when it happens. So don’t be so hard on yourself: just be happy you have seen this so much more clearly now, for that can free you from self-doubt that otherwise might paralyze you. I’ve been on the same boat with Simon on this since c. 1967, but I always welcome any latecomers, for they are often a bit shell-shocked.
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