A Very Bad Day for the Fourth Amendment

[Selene]

It just keeps getting worse. Indiana Supreme Court rules 3-2 that a citizen cannot resist an illegal entry by a police officer here.

"INDIANAPOLIS | Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes."

"We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," David said. "We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest."

David said a person arrested following an unlawful entry by police still can be released on bail and has plenty of opportunities to protest the illegal entry through the court system.

I have not read the decision yet, but on the surface this is appalling!

Place this into the panoply of statist suppression which includes the Boeing plant case in South Carolina and some will look, back in the future and wonder how stupid we were not to resist immediately when we saw this growing threat.

Adam

not a member of the growing herd in a nation of sheep.

[Robert Campbell]

Adam,

This decision, and the one that preceded it (concerning "no-knock" searches), are both atrocious.

It would be nice to think that they would be overturned by SCOTUS. Unfortunately, it's unadvisable to bet on that outcome.

Robert Campbell

[IamBalSimon]

Adam,

This decision, and the one that preceded it (concerning "no-knock" searches), are both atrocious.

It would be nice to think that they would be overturned by SCOTUS. Unfortunately, it's unadvisable to bet on that outcome.

Robert Campbell

Until we remove the most unpatriotic POTUS to ever serve, Americans' Constitutional rights will continue to be trampled. Even if the Supreme Court overturns this, I expect the march of soft tyranny to continue unabated.

- Bal

[Selene]

Seems to be an uncomfortable trend developing...here .

Apparently, in the Tenth Federal Circuit out West, these "sneak and peak," or, "delayed notice search warrants" are increasing.

Now there is Orwellian speak for you!

Delayed notice!

"These search warrants don't involve knocking on doors or any type of warning at all. Delayed-notice search warrants, or "sneak-and-peek" warrants, allow federal agents to enter your home without telling you they've been there until months later.

The warrants have always been around, but their use has spiked since the revamped Patriot Act in 2005. The number of delayed-notice search warrants spiked nationally from nearly 700 in fiscal year 2007 to close to 2,000 in 2009."

Read more: http://www.koat.com/...l#ixzz1MhzMhCIc

Edited May 18, 2011 by Selene

[BaalChatzaf]

Adam,

This decision, and the one that preceded it (concerning "no-knock" searches), are both atrocious.

It would be nice to think that they would be overturned by SCOTUS. Unfortunately, it's unadvisable to bet on that outcome.

Robert Campbell

Until we remove the most unpatriotic POTUS to ever serve, Americans' Constitutional rights will continue to be trampled. Even if the Supreme Court overturns this, I expect the march of soft tyranny to continue unabated.

- Bal

You will get your chance to do that in November of 2012. If Lord Obama runs, then vote for the other candidate. Or would you prefer that Hillary ran?

Ba'al Chatzaf

[syrakusos]

Do you really believe that anyone should have the right to stop the police from entering by offering their own version of a legal argument?

In this case, the subject shoved a police officer, physically resisting.

I understand warrants and courts of competent jurisdiction.

We also grant the police the power to intervene immediately based on their judgment.

If they are wrong, remedies exist.

Resisting the police is the first step to anarchy. Is that what you want?

[Selene]

Now, in Cedar Falls Iowa, the City Council has twice voted, 6-1 to demand that every business and apartment unit of three (3) or more units hand over to THE GOVERNMENT the keys to their doors!

The purpose is to allow cops and firefighters to easily access your home or business in case of an “emergency.” But what’s an “emergency?” Whatever a city employee who happens to have the lockbox key decides as an emergency. After all, who will be there to stop him?

http://michaelgraham.com/archives/a-city-government-orders-citizens-to-hand-over-the-keys-mdash-literally/

[Selene]

Authorities involved in the arrest of a protester who removed his shirt and pants at a security checkpoint at

Richmond International Airport

were doing their jobs and acted appropriately,

a government attorney

argued Wednesday in

Richmond

federal court.

Carlotta P. Wells

,

an attorney

for the

U.S. Department of Justice

, argued in favor of a motion to dismiss Aaron B. Tobey's lawsuit, which claims his constitutional rights were violated.

Wells

said

Tobey

had made his point by removing his shirt to display words from the Fourth Amendment written on his torso but went too far when he disobeyed a command to pass through a security scanner.

But

Anand Agneshwar

,

an attorney

representing

Tobey

in his lawsuit against airport and federal officials, said the 21-year-old

Charlottesville

man obeyed the commands of authorities.

Agneshwar

said it was the authorities who went too far by detaining

Tobey

for 90 minutes or longer with his hands cuffed behind his back.

4th Amendment article here