IJCentral: International Justice Central

The balance between the people and the state has always been precarious, a see-saw between our collective needs that can only be guaranteed by a strong, mature state, and our sacred right to live our lives the way we see fit, and most importantly to control and alter the state that governs in our name – “we the people.”

Remember when you were a kid on that playground see-saw, and you partner, a little heavier than you, was able to keep you up in the air before pushing off to set the ride in motion once more – and remember the times when the trust was broken and your partner jumped off, letting you drop with an ass thumping jolt?

“We the people” are about to be dropped onto our collective ass by the highest court in the land.  The “Roberts court” is on the verge of reversing basic constitutional protections, in place for almost 100 years – the 4th Amendment right to be secure from tyrannical search, seizure, and false arrest.

In 1914, in a case called Weeks v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained through unconstitutional search & seizure could not be used in court; it would be considered the poisoned fruit of the poisonous tree of police misconduct.  Throughout the years this ruling has been strengthened.  In 1961 the Warren court in Mapp v. Ohio ruled that the exclusionary rule applied to all state trials.  The strengthening of these rulings has been a powerful check on City, State, and Federal police agencies from overstepping their mandates and abusing their power. 

Now Chief Justice Roberts with a 5-4 conservative majority wants to erase this “exclusionary” protection. The first blow has been struck in a decision handed down in Herring v. United States, this January. In a recent NY Times article Adam Liptak discusses the case and clearly illuminates the dangers we face. 

In the US we have a truly robust judicial system, and we are guided by a rule-of-law.  But this rule-of-law must never be taken for granted.  Unless we are vigilant, and defend our civil liberties at home, our protests over abuses abroad will be marred with the stain of hypocrisy.