A Law and Order Police State
In a 5-4 vote the Supreme Court says the police can invade your body and take your DNA without a warrant from a judge
For reasons of their own, the Bill of Rights has been under assault on an almost daily basis by both the Left and the Right.
Conservatives often knee-jerk to grant the already centralized All-Powerful State more and more power to "protect" us. Liberals often vote to grow the State just on the general principal that State power is good. Both sides have less and less interest in our Constitutional rights.
But party lines got mixed up a bit when a sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday said police can routinely take DNA from people they arrest, equating a DNA cheek swab to other common jailhouse procedures like fingerprinting.
The Supreme Court says your body can be invaded by the State. |
Speaking for four Conservatives and one liberal justice, Anthony Kennedy said, "Taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment." But the four dissenting justices said that the court was allowing a major change in police powers.
Justice Antonin Scalia: "Make no mistake about it: because of today's decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason."
All 50 states and the federal government take cheek swabs from convicted criminals to check against federal and state databanks, with the court's blessing. The fight at the Supreme Court was over whether that DNA collection could come before conviction and without a judge issuing a warrant.
The Republican Scalia was joined in his dissent by Democrat Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Kennedy wrote the decision, and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas (all Republicans) and Stephen Breyer (a Clinton appointed Democrat).
(Associated Press)
Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia He was joined by three Democrat Justices in defending the 4th Amendment. |
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