Supreme Court Rules Warrantless Search of Cars Illegal
Sinclere Lee
WASHINGTON —(BNW) In a case that is sure to turn this crooked criminal justice system on its head, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police need a warrant to search the vehicle of someone they have arrested if the person is locked up in a patrol cruiser and poses no safety threat to officers.
The court's 5-4 decision puts new limits on the ability of police to search a vehicle immediately after the arrest of a suspect. Justice John Paul Stevens said in the majority opinion that warrantless searches still may be conducted if a car's passenger compartment is within reach of a suspect who has been removed from the vehicle or there is reason to believe evidence of a crime will be found.
Police routinely stop Blacks for traffic stops, the so-called driving while Black syndrome, and search their cars, trying to turn a simple traffic stop into a major drug bust. In some cities like Chattanooga, most of the drug arrests are simple traffic stops of Blacks turned into major drug busts. That crooked shit is over!
"When these justifications are absent, a search of an arrestee's vehicle will be unreasonable unless police obtain a warrant," Stevens said. As a result, thousands of cases against Blacks in local cities and towns will be thrown out, making this the most important ruling for Blacks to come out of the Supreme Court since Brown V Board of Education.
Justice Samuel Alito, in dissent, complained that the decision upsets police practice that has developed since the court first authorized warrantless searches immediately following an arrest.
"There are cases in which it is unclear whether an arrestee could retrieve a weapon or evidence," Alito said.
Even more confusing, he said, is asking police to determine whether the vehicle contains evidence of a crime. "What this rule permits in a variety of situations is entirely unclear," Alito said.
Eric Holder's appointment as Attorney General has made a great difference in justice in this country, and he has only been in office ninety-days. The days of turning a simple traffic stop into a drug arrest is over, and the crooked cops around the country are on notice. Now, the dumb cops around this country will have to solve crimes the old fashion way; investigate!
“There is a whole lot of injustice that will have to be tended to before you can drain the swamp of the rottenness in our courts. Most prosecutors and judges in America are out to get Blacks, and they make no secret about it,” says Clifford Eberhardt, editor of Black News.
Hopefully, we can reach a day in this country where judges and prosecutors will begin to seek justice for Black people, not just prosecutions, Eberhardt said. How do you stop these racist prosecutors from hating Blacks they are suppose to serve? only God knows that!
The decision backs an Arizona high court ruling in favor of Rodney Joseph Gant, who was handcuffed, seated in the back of a patrol car and under police supervision when Tucson, Ariz., police officers searched his car. They found cocaine and drug paraphernalia.
The trial court said the evidence could be used against Gant, but Arizona appeals courts overturned the convictions because the officers already had secured the scene and thus faced no threat to their safety or concern about evidence being preserved.
The state and the Bush administration complained that ruling would impose a "dangerous and unworkable test" that would complicate the daily lives of law enforcement officers.
The justices divided in an unusual fashion. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, David Souter and Clarence Thomas joined the majority opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy were in dissent along with Alito.