Court Opens Door To Searches Without Warrants

[ELVIS]

Staged terrorist attacks ??

I hope someone IS watching you.. you're looney...

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by FORD
The bad cops are not the issue here though. An unconstitutional ruling from a Federal court is.

You'll get no argument from me on this...I personally think both Liberal and Conservative Justices are doing a great dis-service to the people of this country and THAT is the issue that needs to be addressed.

Everything else can be fixed after that happens...

[knuckleboner]

Originally posted by FORD
The bad cops are not the issue here though. An unconstitutional ruling from a Federal court is.

i wouldn't go quite that far.

on its face, it seems pretty standard.

on the street, a cop can do a stop and quick weapons search (a "terry stop," if he feels that the person is acting suspicious. already. for many years.

police have also had the ability to search, for their safety, if they arrest somebody. this doesn't let them search every square inch of the house, (or search r. kelly's digital images stored on his camera.) but it does let them pat the guy down and search a closet or 2 to make sure nobody else is ready to cap them.


this particular case holds that the police don't have to be actually arresting somebody, but if they are in a situation where they feel they are in danger, they can make preliminary searches.

here, they were invited into a house by a resident, though not into the master bedroom. they were trying to make sure that the guy, who they were told was in the house with guns and an intent to kill, wasn't ready to blast them at any moment. so in that case, is looking in a closet an improper search?

personally, i don't think so.