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Well some good news that weakens warrantless vehicle searches and restores some of our 4th amendment rights.
( Not that you will not be asked to waive your rights to a search) I don't have anything to hide or to be scared of , we have enough invasion of our privacy in the digital age and permanent electronic tracking and records.
Not that I transport contraband or anything illegal - yet it is just like when you have had your house or car broken into you feel violated and at less at peace - the same when someone pokes their nose where it doesn't belong and riffles through your belongings.
Supreme Court Ruling Curbs Unattended Car Search By Cops Without Warrant
<broken link removed>
April 21, 2009 11:25 p.m. EST
Matthew Harvey - AHN Matthew Harvey
Washington, D.C (AHN) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that police need a warrant to search an unattended vehicle and overturned the three-year sentence on a man caught driving without a license but whose car yielded cocaine and a handgun after a warrantless search.
The verdict favored by five justices led by Justice John Paul Stevens against four who dissented said the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution does not permit the warrantless search of a car unless the life of a police officer is in danger or evidence might be destroyed or concealed.
Agreeing with Stevens were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, David Souter and Clarence Thomas. Justices Samuel Alito, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Chief Justice John Roberts gave the dissenting opinion.
According to Csmonitor.com, Justice Alito said, "The ruling will cause the suppression of evidence gathered in many searches carried out in good-faith reliance on well-settled case law."
The verdict stemmed from an appeal by Arizona citizen Rodney Gant of his three-year prison sentence for drug paraphernalia and cocaine for sale. The drug and gun were found by Tucson police when he was arrested for a traffic violation in 1999.
In his trial, defense lawyers argued that the warrantless search was unreasonable illegal as Gant was already out of the car and in the backseat of a police cruiser.
Arizona prosecutors said the circumstance had outweighed the violation of privacy and the trial court convicted and sentenced Gant. Gant appealed the ruling before the Arizona Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
( Not that you will not be asked to waive your rights to a search) I don't have anything to hide or to be scared of , we have enough invasion of our privacy in the digital age and permanent electronic tracking and records.
Not that I transport contraband or anything illegal - yet it is just like when you have had your house or car broken into you feel violated and at less at peace - the same when someone pokes their nose where it doesn't belong and riffles through your belongings.
Supreme Court Ruling Curbs Unattended Car Search By Cops Without Warrant
<broken link removed>
April 21, 2009 11:25 p.m. EST
Matthew Harvey - AHN Matthew Harvey
Washington, D.C (AHN) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that police need a warrant to search an unattended vehicle and overturned the three-year sentence on a man caught driving without a license but whose car yielded cocaine and a handgun after a warrantless search.
The verdict favored by five justices led by Justice John Paul Stevens against four who dissented said the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution does not permit the warrantless search of a car unless the life of a police officer is in danger or evidence might be destroyed or concealed.
Agreeing with Stevens were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, David Souter and Clarence Thomas. Justices Samuel Alito, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Chief Justice John Roberts gave the dissenting opinion.
According to Csmonitor.com, Justice Alito said, "The ruling will cause the suppression of evidence gathered in many searches carried out in good-faith reliance on well-settled case law."
The verdict stemmed from an appeal by Arizona citizen Rodney Gant of his three-year prison sentence for drug paraphernalia and cocaine for sale. The drug and gun were found by Tucson police when he was arrested for a traffic violation in 1999.
In his trial, defense lawyers argued that the warrantless search was unreasonable illegal as Gant was already out of the car and in the backseat of a police cruiser.
Arizona prosecutors said the circumstance had outweighed the violation of privacy and the trial court convicted and sentenced Gant. Gant appealed the ruling before the Arizona Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.