Angling For Any Pretense, Now

Going to the dogs…

Are we more free?  I doubt that very much, especially after reading about a recent Supreme Court ruling (6-2) in the case Illinois v. Caballes.  The case revolved around a routine traffic stop in the State of Illinois, wherein a motorist was stopped for driving six (6) MPH over the speed limit.  While the citation issuing cop was writing up a speeding ticket, for the unlucky motorist, another cop, who just happened to be passing by with his drug sniffing dog, decided to let the pooch have a sniff around the stopped motorist’s vehicle.  The dog alerted, and the cops found about a quarter mill worth of pot in the driver’s trunk.

Here’s a portion of what The Kinston Free Press has to say about this case.

"Perhaps it’s not the stuff of massive outrage. But a U.S. Supreme Court decision issued Monday - which allows drug-sniffing dogs to sniff a car during a routine traffic stop - represents another small erosion of privacy and personal freedom. Freedoms are generally lost little by little, often by giving authorities just a little more latitude in difficult or ambivalent circumstances. We fear Illinois v. Caballes, which reversed the Illinois Supreme Court, will come to be seen as another small step in the slow but steady erosion of privacy."

How can this not be the stuff of massive outrage?  These supposedly small nips at the remaining liberty we currently have are exactly what we should be outraged about.

“Court’s drug dog ruling takes a bite out of freedom"

You can read the Un-justices’ opinion here.

Posted by on 01/30 at 12:02 PM

  1. This is similar to the situation Bill Keezer and I blogged on, regarding the American Nazi Party’s road clean up sign.  It seems like a good idea, right?  After all, drugs are illegal and if we can catch people like this, why not?  But what if you have an open bottle of wine as a keepsake from your anniversary dinner, or you’re driving home with a loaded gun in the glove box without a license, which your significant other left in the car without thinking?  Where is our freedom?  People tend to think with blinders.

    Great post.

    Posted by Ally  on  01/30  at  03:24 PM

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