[13353] in Cypherpunks
Re: some animals are more equal than others
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Johnson)
Sat May 7 13:35:48 1994
From: Chris Johnson <cmj@acsu.buffalo.edu>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Date: Sat, 7 May 1994 13:31:55 -0400 (EDT)
> In the news:
> A judge has dismissed drug charges against a daughter of Rep.
> Dan Rostenkowski, saying police had conducted an illegal search.
> ...police found a gram of cocaine in her car.
> ... On Thursday, Criminal Court Judge Michael Toomin ruled that
> the officers didn't have probable cause to conduct the search.
> *EXCUSE ME!* Since when have the cops and judges cared about legality
> of searches? Am I confused? Wasn't Bill in Chicago two weeks ago
> explaining why we needed to do illegal searches to root out drugs?
> Oh, I forgot. He meant the searches for *US*. Not *THEM*.
Whether the cops like it or not (they don't) they have to have
probable cause to pull you over in the first place. Then they have to
have a reason to search you. Since your car is considered (legally at
least) an extension of you they don't need a warrant to search your
car, but they do need probable cause.
Chris
