Saturday, May 14, 2011

Indiana Supreme Court: 4th Amendment Doesn't Apply

The Indiana Supreme Court recently issued a 3-2 ruling stating that citizens do not have a choice to resist an unlawful search by government agents. The basis for this decision seems to rely on that, in modern times, there are other ways to fight an unlawful search of one's property, such as the court system or a police ethics board and so on.

For those interested in reading a more legal analysis, you should read the following blog posts:


Welsh points out that this decision is authored by Governor Mitch Daniels' only state Supreme Court appointment, Justice Steven David. I think this speaks volumes of how people like David and Governor Daniels' think.

This is a great example of the "Fuck You, I Got Mine" type of thinking. People like David think that, since they are lawyers, they have complete faith in the court system. Or people like Daniels who, since they are wealthy and have a team of lawyers, a court case won't really bother them. But to the average citizen who don't have thousands of dollars lying around to fight a civil or criminal case, it leaves them with very few options.

It's my understanding that, already, there are several court cases in both the national Supreme Court and the state level that support various types of warrantless searches, such as when in pursuit of a suspect or other types of emergencies.

The media in this state, and possible the nation, should be hounding Daniels throughout the weekend to get his thoughts on this.

On another note, it seems Daniels is trying to piss off every Republican base possible. Social conservatives and certain blowhards are still pissy about his "truce" comments regarding social issues, and now civil libertarians will look at this decision, written by Daniels' appointee, and will think twice before chanting My Man Mitch.

1 comment:

  1. In my humble opinion, you make a big assumption about Mitch's take on this. It's very likely he was completely unaware of David's opinion on this. (And I don't agree with the ruling.)

    ReplyDelete

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