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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
The only protection the 4th Amendment now guarantees is that if you are comitting no crime, have not comitted a crime, nor are about to commit a crime, then any search of your person, car, or home will be considered illegal. Evidence resulting from said search will still not be supressed (in federal court) and your only redress will be to file civil rights violations against the offending police officers which will result in a dismissed suit because agents of the state have almost unlimited qualified immunity.
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i'm fairly certain that is not true.
the supreme court has granted police extra power to search vehicles (versus homes, for example). cars are able (along with their drivers) to be on the other side of the country by the time a warrant is issued. the court has allowed loosened standards for searches when the potential evidence can be moved/destroyed before law enforcement has a chance to act.
i don't know much of anything about this decision (other than the cited article), but i don't think its application is as broad as feared. search of homes has remained undisturbed for decades: they still need a warrant or valid consent absent such exigent circumstances. in fact, the GA v. Randolph decision in 2006 actually curtailed police' ability to search under certain circumstances.