Libertarians, moderates, liberals and ...

POSTED BY: SignyM
UPDATED: Thursday, February 9, 2006 15:20
VIEWED: 6399
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SIGNYM

Saturday, January 28, 2006 2:34 PM

Quote:
SignyM: The affidavit was improperly written because it allows searches of others in the house.

Geezer: Nevertheless, it was signed by a judge and the officers who served it had no reason to believe it was not valid.

So basically the girl's civil rights were violated, but not by the police officers but by the Judge who signed the warrant, even though he should have known better. In a problem-solving mode (which is what "creative settlements" are all about) I would have identified the Judge as the party at fault and made him (and all judges at his level in the state) take refresher classes on Fourth Ammendment protections, and what is- and what isn't- a Constitutional warrant. Failing that, I would have found that the girl's Constitutional rights were violated even if the wrong defendent was identified, thus re-affirmining the Fourth Ammendment which requires specificity in search warrants. I would NOT have simply swept this aside, as Alito did.

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Please don't think they give a shit.

CHRISISALL

Saturday, January 28, 2006 2:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
BAD CHOICE is simply subjective, and not beholden to any quantified fact. You don't like Bush, so you don't like Alito. Merely your personal opinion. ( typing it in caps doesn't make it any more real )

You ignored the relevent comments I made, and responded w/ inane insults. Einstein , to my knowledge, wasn't much into magic, so I am unaware of what he conjured.

I ignored your comments because they are not relevent. Opinions, like mine, except wrong. And everything you and I say is subjective, so I guess I'll just dismiss ALL(caps) that you ever say, too.
BTW, I was using 'conjured' in the Mal way, to mean conjured up in your head, he says it in the movie Serenity to the character of Simon early in. You should see it, it's a good movie. Talks about how governments have a hard time with the truth, and like control at the expense of the individual.

Just a little sarcastic Chrisisall

SIGNYM

Saturday, January 28, 2006 3:00 PM

What I get from Auraptor's posts is that a bad choice is simply a subjective thing, unless of course it is HIS choice in which case it's objective. So I pass on Auraptor's recommedations because he can't even keep his logic consistent.

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Unitary Executive- A concept whose time should never come.

MICO

Saturday, January 28, 2006 7:52 PM

Rue and SignyM: Hope you don't mind if I jump in here to add a few comments. The search case you've been discussing is, to me, just another example of Alito's deference to the executive branch. His dissenting opinion essentially says that when a question arises, we should defer to the executive branch (law enforcement officers) rather than the judicial branch (the actual warrant signed by the magistrate). It is not unusual that a judge or magistrate will issue a warrant that is narrower in scope than what is requested by law enforcement. That is what happened here. We don't know for sure whether it was really the magistrate's intent to do so, but the end result was that the face of the warrant was narrower in scope than the application and affidavit supporting it. Alito says, in effect, that the magistrate must have made a mistake in sigining the warrant that he issued and that we should just go with what the law enforcement officers wanted in the first place. As the majority points out, Alito's position makes the judge or magistrate unnecessary. I don't see how that can make Alito anything other than a judicial activist (albeit a crazy one, since his position makes himself unnecessary); the Constitutional language clearly contemplates review, by the judicial branch, of executive branch search and seizure requests as part of the checks and balances built into it. Alito is clearly reading into the Constitution something quite different than what was put there by the framers. Sounds like "judicial activism" to me.

But here is what really worries me about Alito: When you combine his willingness to sell out the judicial and legislative branches with his proven, serious ethical lapses, I just can't believe anything the man says. He previously promised to recuse himself from certain cases, then later refused to do so, even though he was ethically required to. I think judges have to be held to a higher ethical standard than we might hold for us regular folk. This is important because the only reason we have a relatively peaceful society is that there is a widespread belief in the essential fairness of the rule of law. And, although there are certainly instances of corrupt judges, the perception in general is that when you finally get your day in court, you'll get a fair hearing, and will abide by the court's decision, even if you don't like it. I hold the Supreme Court to the highest ethical standard, and Alito just doesn't even come close to that in my estimation.

Quote:
Originally posted by rue:
Quote:
SignyM
And, what that "well qualified" means is....

He hasn't taken any bribes, or been dishonest (except in several cases where he should have recused himself but didn't).

SignyM sorta glosses over these ethical lapses, but for me, they are the core of the matter. I don't like Alito's politics, but more than that, I think he's dishonest, and that's something we just can't abide in a justice on our highest court.

Sometimes you have to thrust with the point . . .

DREAMTROVE

Saturday, January 28, 2006 8:27 PM

Okay, there are issues with Alito. I'm still not convinced that his new post would grant him a position to effectuate that. I think that unitary executive is liable a matter for congress to consider, not one justice. I'll admit, this does concern me, but I'm not convinced Alito is a disaster. Harriet Myers is a disaster. So are many other people that Bush would like to nominate. It's comparative, and it's Bush, so I'm grading on a curve. This is the price we pay for having elected him. We should bear that in mind before electing more crony heads regardless of which party they are in.

CITIZEN

Saturday, January 28, 2006 8:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Geezer:
This is quite an assumption. Mom didn't know that her hubby (boyfriend, whatever) was dealing drugs out of their home? Didn't know where they were stashed when he wasn't there? Sort of a credulity stretch.

Guilty until proven innocent then?

More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

DREAMTROVE

Sunday, January 29, 2006 12:48 AM

A slight adviso on Alito.

The Filibuster has the support of Hillary, DiFi and Kerry. I think that this means, to me, a TE operation. Since killing the filibuster is on the TE agenda, I think that this is meant to force the nuclear option. I think Team Evil Democrat (TED) is intending to win a majority in '06, and a presidency in '08, and then will be legislatively unopposed.

Just a warning. IMHO

GEEZER

Sunday, January 29, 2006 1:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by citizen:
Guilty until proven innocent then?

Of course not. Neither is the alleged drug dealer. Suspect until checked out would be a more accurate description of the mom and daughter.

The only person I see here who is being treated as guilty until proven innocent is Judge Alito.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

SIGNYM

Sunday, January 29, 2006 4:27 AM

Geezer- Do you need the text of the Fourth Amendment reposted? Apparently you do. The police aren't supposed to be able to "check out" whomever they please because they "suspect". But since you're only pretending to be legitimate, I'll stop the pretend discussion with you.

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Please don't think they give a shit.

GEEZER

Sunday, January 29, 2006 7:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Geezer- Do you need the text of the Fourth Amendment reposted? Apparently you do. The police aren't supposed to be able to "check out" whomever they please because they "suspect".

As noted before, the police in this case thought they had a valid warrant to search anyone on the premises. Judge Alito apparently thought that although they were incorrect in this assumption, that error did not constitute an actionable offense.

And the police can "check out" whichever "suspect" they please, as long as they can convince a judge to sign a warrant. The issue in this case was an error in the warrant, not the police willfully overstepping their bounds.

Quote:
But since you're only pretending to be legitimate, I'll stop the pretend discussion with you.

Not pretending legitimacy at all. My parents were married to each other well before I was born.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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