The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that jails may strip search detainees being put into the general prison population.
Progressive screamers, horrified at Obamacare's poor performance before the court a week earlier, seized upon the ruling to impugn the court that they anticipate will knock down Obamacare as well.
It's an interesting tactic, sure to win over those who don't think too hard, but in reality the two cases are unrelated, each decided on its merits. The one common factor in both cases is government power, but progressives don't want to go there.
Noah Feldman examines the Supreme Court ruling:
As a result, instead of arguing about dignity, the justices disagreed about the practical question of whether invasive strip-searches are reasonably necessary to serve the interests of the jails and prisons. Kennedy’s majority opinion said that they were.
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the strip-searches, however well-intentioned when first instituted, now function to humiliate people being put behind bars, sending the message that they are now essentially nonpersons, under the full control of the state.
Yet, it’s worth noting, not even Breyer argued that all strip-searches of people entering jail should be unconstitutional. There is a reason: Privacy, as we know it, is dying. The death is slow and gradual. But it is starting to look inevitable. Supreme Court justices, in general, and Kennedy in particular, rarely fight the trend of history. (Noah Feldman)The linchpin to the Supreme Court decision was that law enforcement officers have a right to protect themselves and a duty to protect other detainees, and that trumps the rights of people introduced into a detention facility. That makes sense, but it doesn't get to the heart of the issue.
The Real OutragePeople are missing the true outrage here. A non-violent suspect was incarcerated for failure to pay a fine. With all the technology at our fingertips, we suffer under a medieval government. Proliferating policies and ever-expanding laws and police powers are making outlaws of us all, and we are increasingly being treated like hardened criminals by an arrogant, burgeoning police state. We are guilty until proven innocent.
Progressive fans of Big Government take note:
A government that can make you purchase health insurance can also strip you naked and make you squat and cough.
A government that can make you purchase health insurance can also strip you naked and make you squat and cough.
24 comments:
Hasn't the strip search of detainees going into the general population of prisons had been standard procedure for a long time?
Yes, we have the technology for cavity searches without physical searches. Is that technology not in place at prisons?
I suppose that the cost of such technology for the thousands upon thousands of local jails is prohibitively expensive.
Sometimes law enforcement holds someone on a lesser charge to stall for time to get a search warrant for a more serious charge.
Just sayin'.
Don't get me wrong. There are indeed plenty of cases of abuse of arrestees at "the discretion" of law enforcement. Not sure how to put a stop to that.
every last person who may not have paid a fine should not be locked up
Well, I agree with that.
My point is that every last person who may not have paid a fine should not be locked up.
This is what government is doing. They get you into the system and then it's all fair game to them.
Gotta be tough on crime !!!
Considering the militarization of police departments that is going on under the cover of the war on terrorism this is a small victory.
Train in the tunnel but we might as well feel safe, right?
"A government that can make you purchase health insurance can also strip you naked and make you squat and cough"
That statement does not bode well for the SCOTUS to strike down Obamacare being they upheld the strip searches.
"It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the strip-searches, however well-intentioned when first instituted, now function to humiliate people being put behind bars, sending the message that they are now essentially nonpersons, under the full control of the state."
Is that what a one time searching of a man's parts does? HOLY COW. I sure hope they never have to have their prostates checked. They'll have to be institutionalized for life with complete mental breakdowns, I guess?
As for the non-violent suspect incarcerated for only a failure to pay a fine, that is insane. But, if he's put into the jail population, however wrong it is, I'd still think the experts know enough about what inmates COULD do to warrant a search, to keep others safe. But, as you imply, what would actually motivate a non-violent non-fine paying guy to sneak anything in ("up there") ...watching too many Edward G Robinson movies? :-)
One third of all states now allow putting debtors in jail according to the ACLU and some other sources. We soon will no longer even be recognized as the once great nation we once were. So these dangerous people will be subject to the above mentioned searches.
Think trying to decide who should and who shouldn't submot to a full body search is a slippery slope. It's not the end of the world. I bet the guy pays his fines in the future.
What's he got up there, a shiv?
According to a gasterenterologist friend of mine (he calls himself a butt doctor) he finds everything and anything up there, including light bulbs and other assorted gadgets, foods, implements and tools.
What's he got up there?
Try an IED to begin with.
This is what allowing Muslims and illegal immigrants of dubious heritage to walk freely among us has done:
It has given wings -- and a good "excuse" -- to implement and give free rein t our natural urge to tyrannize, abuse and humiliate one another.
With Technology (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) as its Handmaiden TYRANNY will know no bounds, and become more difficult to overthrow than ever before.
WELCOME to PRISON PLANET.
Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here.
And you thought Alex Jones was a lunatic! HAH!
~ FreeThinke
Light bulbs, eh?
BEANS would be bad enough.
Farting Your Way to Glory is awful rough on the folks left behind.
PHEW!
~ FT
If someone could prove that detainees were republican voters, I'm pretty sure that lefties wouldn't give a rats ass about the detainees asses, so to speak.
"A government that can make you purchase health insurance can also strip you naked and make you squat and cough."
Yep, that and a lot more.
Freethinker, joining the general strike tomorrow?
Didn't think so. Class collaborators deserve a full cavity search.
It has given wings -- and a good "excuse" -- to implement and give free rein t our natural urge to tyrannize, abuse and humiliate one another... you mean like Muslims and illegal immigrants of dubious heritage?
How do you reconcile such diametrically opposed viewpoints? Tyranny is tyranny! You're an enigma sometimes FT.
Illegal immigrants are illegal regardless of their heritage (Justice is Blind, remember?)
Take away the rights of Muslims and yours aren't that far behind.
Now... where did I put that file?
Cheers!
And you thought Alex Jones was a lunatic! HAH!
-----
Damn, Freethinker, he isn't?
You don't seem to understand that Existence, itself, is a paradox, Finntann.
How could YOU possibly believe it right to give free rein to those who have vowed to restrict and destroy YOUR freedom, take away YOUR property rights, and possibly your very LIFE?
As I and many others before me have said, "The U.S. Constitution is not a suicide pact."
I have no idea what that might mean to you, but it tells me that all bests are off when MY life and MY security -- and that of my loved ones -- is at stake.
Giving representatives of the AXIS Powers freedom to do their darndest in our country during World War Two was unthinkable. We made no effort to be "fair" to our enemies then, and none to give them the benefit of the doubt. We were right to do so.
We also came quickly to realize that Communism and its advocates and practitioners were at least as deadly a threat to our best interests as the AXIS Powers had ever been. We tried to stop Communism dead in its tracks, but "enlightened," "high-minded" "progressives"people soon put a stop to that.
The results of our going soft on Communism are what you see -- don't like -- and bitterly oppose -- today.
You can't deal equitably with the Devil, because he will never return the compliment.
It's currently unfashionable to refer to Satan, who is generally dismissed today as a figment of outmoded superstition.
I believe it was C. S. Lewis who said, "Satan's greatest accomplishment to date has been to persuade the world he does not exist."
I have to agree.
~ FreeThinke
Just a slow transition to martial law folks!
"Progressive fans of Big Government take note:
A government that can make you purchase health insurance can also strip you naked and make you squat and cough."
LOL! Ya' know, if you think today's liberals and progressives are to blame for the police state, then you just keep voting for the cons and pretending they are more like you than the libs. Go ahead. Be a fool.
JMJ
There is a distinct difference between a war or hostility between states (WWII, Communism) and a War with something as ill defined as "The War on Terror". It is as about as silly as a "War On Poverty" or the "War On Drugs". What's next? A "War on Tax Cheats"?
Are the IRA our enemies? How about terrorists who are on our side?
That is the quandary we are in today. Do you hold Oman responsible for the actions of those that would be deemed criminal under their own system?
If an American blows up an abortion clinic in England, was that an act of war by the United States? What about Americans who supported the IRA? Criminal? or Combatant?
Think Carefully... you can't have it both ways.
Want to outlaw the Communist Party? Socialist Party? How about the Democratic Party? Or perhaps given the 2008 election, the Republican Party? Hey, if you can outlaw one, you can outlaw any... all you need are enough votes.
Last time I checked, you were guaranteed a Republican form of government, not a Republican Party.
Mob rule is just fine so long as you have a pitchfork in one hand and a torch in the other.
Law and the Constitution, must be applied equally and impartially.
As Franklin said "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
I believe he also said you have a Republic if you can keep it.
We can't blame Muslims for the erosion of our freedoms, we can only blame ourselves.
Must be a Franklin night...
We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
I don't defend Muslims, Christians, Atheists, Communists, Socialists, or Terrorists. I defend the Constitution, and thus, myself. I might not agree with him on the majority of things, but Ducky's views are as legitimate as yours, or mine.
Seems everybody wants to tear up the constitution these days... only difference is they want to tear up different parts of it.
Cheers!
Jersey, it's the fool who thinks progressives and progressivism are confined to either liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican.
Libs, and Cons, and Statists!
Oh, My!
Libs, and Cons, and Statists!
Oh, My!
Or to quote the Wizard:
You, my friend, are a victim of disorganized thinking
LOL all you want, Jersey, but you can't refute the statement.
You want big government? You can't have it both ways. The clanking soulless monster that you cheer on for trampling "the cons" will also trample your stuff as well.
The beast is out of control.
Duck said:
Class collaborators deserve a full cavity search.
Well, there you have it, folks. Disagree with the Left, and the Left wants to sexually assault you.
You don't seem to understand that Existence, itself, is a paradox, Finntann.
How could YOU possibly believe it right to give free rein to those who have vowed to restrict and destroy YOUR freedom, take away YOUR property rights, and possibly your very LIFE?
As I and many others before me have said, "The U.S. Constitution is not a suicide pact."
I have no idea what that might mean to you, but it tells me that all bests are off when MY life and MY security -- and that of my loved ones -- is at stake.
Giving representatives of the AXIS Powers freedom to do their darndest in our country during World War Two was unthinkable. We made no effort to be "fair" to our enemies then, and none to give them the benefit of the doubt. We were right to do so.
We also came quickly to realize that Communism and its advocates and practitioners were at least as deadly a threat to our best interests as the AXIS Powers had ever been. We tried to stop Communism dead in its tracks, but "enlightened," "high-minded" "progressives"people soon put a stop to that.
The results of our going soft on Communism are what you see -- don't like -- and bitterly oppose -- today.
You can't deal equitably with the Devil, because he will never return the compliment.
It's currently unfashionable to refer to Satan, who is generally dismissed today as a figment of outmoded superstition.
I believe it was C. S. Lewis who said, "Satan's greatest accomplishment to date has been to persuade the world he does not exist."
I have to agree.
~ FreeThinke
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