Libertarians, moderates, liberals and ...

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

Thursday, January 26, 2006 5:28 AM

... independents. Sam Alito is being voted on by the Senate. If you've been following his nomination at all you know that he believes in the Unitary Executive. Unitary Executive means a lot of things to a lot of people, but to Judge Alito it means unprecedented Presidential power: to wiretap, to create laws through signing statements, to place all agencies under direct political control.

In his past, Judge Alito wrote a dissenting statement. What he objected to was that a family was allowed to sue the police when their ten year old girl was strip-searched without a warrant.

Quote:
ALITO SUPPORTS UNAUTHORIZED STRIP SEARCHES: In Doe v. Groody 2004, Alito agued that police officers had not violated constitutional rights when they strip searched a mother and her ten-year-old daughter while carrying out a search warrant that authorized only the search of a man and his home.

Even Judge (Homeland Security) Chertoff was aghast with Alito's dissent. This wouldn't be an issue if this was a abberent ruling, but it isn't. In over 300 rulings, Alito sided with "big, unapproachable" government nearly all of the time.

If you haven't called your Senator by now... or Snowe, Voinovich, or Jeffords what are you waiting for?

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Please don't think they give a shit.

AURAPTOR

Thursday, January 26, 2006 5:39 AM

Quote:
What he objected to was that a family was allowed to sue the police when their ten year old girl was strip-searched without a warrant.

There was a warrant. While it didn't specifically say, " strip search any 10 yr old girls on the property ?, a clear case was made that persons could be searched, as it has become practice of some involved with drugs that children are often used as mules to carry and hide drugs. Judge Alito, being well aware of this fact, ruled accordingly.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

SIGNYM

Thursday, January 26, 2006 2:23 PM

The warrant specified searching a man. Strip-seraching the girl was done w/o a warrant. That would be a little like having you strip-searched because the guy on the sidewalk might have slipped some contraband in your pocket.

Sorry Auraptor, but that's what the Constitution is for: to protect us against that sort of thing.

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Please don't think they give a shit.

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, January 26, 2006 2:42 PM

I don't know about Voinovich, but jeffords, snow and chafee are opposing alito. I assume with anyone who has a career like alito's, there will be some mistakes, but i'm somewhat concerned with the the idea of extended executive power. I think that alito needs to make the argument that he is is not a judicial activist for executive power. But again, bear in mind that if reject alito, you might get gonzalez or ashcroft.

HERO

Thursday, January 26, 2006 5:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
The warrant specified searching a man. Strip-seraching the girl was done w/o a warrant. That would be a little like having you strip-searched because the guy on the sidewalk might have slipped some contraband in your pocket.

I just read Judge Alito's opinion. He clearly indicates that he supports the need for a search warrant to make a legal search. In this case there was a warrant, drafted by nonlawyers. In their application they specifically mention in multiple instances that the want to search ALL persons found on the premises. These nonlawyers then drafted the warrant itself and it was signed, without alteration by the Judge who had reviewed both the warrant and the additional information provided.

Judge Alito's opinion is that since the officers had all along expressed an intention to search ALL persons found, and that they had drafted a warrant for that purpose, then when that warrant was approved they could reasonably believe that they had a valid warrant to conduct the search.

Makes sense to me. I think they acted reasonably under the circumstances. So given these facts, I'd have dissented too.

And I don't think anyone could be "aghast" at the argument. Sure you hear "stripsearch" and "teenage girl" and you immediatly think the worst. Alito's opinon is limited to a discussion of the warrant and the reasonable understanding of the officers, not the underlying emotional context. Maybe I'd read it different if I was a BushHater...world is flat, up is down, cats are cooperative, terrorists are goodguys, etc.

H

CHRISISALL

Thursday, January 26, 2006 5:52 PM

Hero, thanks for helping me to understand the jerk in kneejerk. Some want to look at it too generally (OH my GOD! A stripsearch of a girl!), and some want to get too into the words and not the event itself (limited to a discussion of the warrant and the reasonable blagh blagh).

Does anyone here know what the girl herself thought of all this?

Hero, please free that innocent lab...
or you might be getting an angry visit from PETA...

Chrisisall

AURAPTOR

Thursday, January 26, 2006 7:33 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
The warrant specified searching a man. Strip-seraching the girl was done w/o a warrant. That would be a little like having you strip-searched because the guy on the sidewalk might have slipped some contraband in your pocket.

Sorry Auraptor, but that's what the Constitution is for: to protect us against that sort of thing.

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Please don't think they give a shit.

Yes, we demand the right to use our own children as drug mules.

Sorry, I'm not buyin' that one.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

HERO

Thursday, January 26, 2006 7:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Does anyone here know what the girl herself thought of all this?

I searched the transcripts of the hearing and found two possibilities for what was going through her head. Only she can tell us for certain, but:

1. "My rights, my precious rights are being trampled upon by the evil oppressive hand of government."
2. "Gee, I hope they don't find my Mom's drugs that we shoved up my (insert age appropriate slang for the bodily orifice of your choice here).

Quote:

Hero, please free that innocent lab...
or you might be getting an angry visit from PETA...

I've got some experiance dealing with PETA. I find that nothing goes with a PETA protest demonstration like BBQ ribs on the grill. This one time, in college, they had a big PETA bitch session that resulted in vegetarian day at the cafateria. My friends in the College Republicans counter-protested the event with "Grillapaloosa" which we organized like a big tailgate party on the steps of the cafateria with free hot dogs, ribs, chicken, music and such for hundreds of our fellow students. The PETA folk called us terrorists, it was funny.

That and the time we celebrated Earth Day by sponsoring a fund raiser that involved cutting down a tree are the highlights of my college protest days (proceeds to the local foodbank...for hamburger).

River says hello. She says that her crate is off limits without a valid warrant. I disagree and search it everday. Since I instituted the zero tolerance policy and random searches she no longer messes in her cage or chews on her doggie towel...its a lesson for us all.

H

SIGNYM

Thursday, January 26, 2006 8:01 PM

I happen to know a girl who was searched (but not strip-searched) in her home because her mom's husband was a suspect in a homosexual murder. Now, that guy is a lot of unsavory things, but he's neither a homosexual nor a murderer. It was extremely traumatic for the girl. I think it would be traumatic for anyone.

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Please don't think they give a shit.

RUE

Thursday, January 26, 2006 8:09 PM

Hero, Auraptor,

First of all, you are both confusing 'strip search' with cavity-search'. They were not cavity-searched, they were indeed strip-searched. Their clothing was removed from the areas it normally covers, and they were patted-down. "They were instructed to empty their pockets and lift their shirts. The female officer patted their pockets. She then told Jane and Mary Doe to drop their pants and turn around."

Secondly, the warrant itself only mentioned " ... John Doe, giving his description, date of birth and social security number, and identifying and describing John Doe’s residence."

Finally, "As the text of the Fourth Amendment itself denotes, a particular description is the touchstone of a warrant."

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/3rd/024532p.pdf

Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

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