No search warrants? WTF?!
 

This just in:

"link to article"

Now if that isn't some scary shit! But I'm pretty sure that this won't be abused in any way. Especially in a city with a low crime rate like New Orleans. One by one our rights are slowly being stripped away.

As he says with an evil grin coupled with a sinister laugh...

This is absolutely shocking to me. Since when can the people of Louisiana totally trust that they won't abuse this new decision? I hope it gets shot down.

Amazing........ so much for the Bill Of Rights. Let's play spin the wheel of rights and see what is next.

I'm sure if Bush favors this the GOP will spin it and the right will come up with excuses for why it is a good thing. After all if you have nothing to hide why are you afraid?

That didn't take long.

Absolute and total abuse of it will follow. Even the illusion of abuse will shut it down.

I hope the ACLU taking heed.

Laws like this make me feel cheap.

That's all I have to say...

^ Indeed. It won't last long. I don't hope.

And if it does, i hate to be so cliche about it but; big brother, here we come.

There isn't very much evidence to evaluate how this is different from earlier procedures in New Orleans. Incidentally, it doesn't appear that you all have had much experience with law enforcement--they haven't needed search warrants to conduct searches when they think evidence of a crime is in danger of being destroyed before they can secure a warrant, and have never had to obtain a warrant if they believe an officer's safety is in jeopardy.

Keep in mind that the 4th only protects against unreasonable searches and arbitrary or sweeping warrants--not that I'm supportive of that reading. It's a myth that courts dismiss evidence left and right and let obvious criminals back on the street all the time. The courts have always given the police wide latitude in spot searches.

The only thing new here seems to be the inclusion of "offices."

Smooth on this occasion has it right. In fact even when they don't have that 'perceived' bullshit or obvious officer danger they lie about it. Hell even when they have a warrant it is often based on lies and/or confidential anonymous informants which don't exist.

The only time evidence gets dismissed is on Law and Order so "Jack" has an obstacle to overcome, or when the law enforcement officer gets too creative with the lies.

Lets never forget that 'compelling government interest' overrides the constitution. Let a judge declare the end result 'compelling' and all bets regarding the constitution are off.

-bear

Edit: Toned it down a bit.

Can't help but picture Ashcroft mastrubating in a corner to a drapery clad statue saying,"I did it, Just one more of those pesky "rights" out of my way."

i'm confused (though unsurprised) why the bush/ashcroft bashing has come into this thread.

is this particular case not a decision by the the authorities in the state of louisiana and confirmed by a circuit court? if the bush administration were to step in, they would be strong-arming a state's law enforcement institutions and/or manipulating an appointed judiciary. only the good lord knows what kind of fire (and rightfully so, i might add) they would get from the same people who are bashing them now if they did the exact opposite.

I won't quote this as it is the entire court ruling and therefore quite long however I will summerize... Police were called because this dude was overheard saying he was going to kill a couple of judges some off duty cops and take out some power transformers :confused: . So the police go to this dudes trailer and his roommate answers the door and gives them permission to enter the house saying the guy is asleep down the hall. When they get to his room they don't see him so they check a couple of closets to see if he is hiding, where they notice a couple of guns... Story goes on...

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/...230629cr0p.pdf

I am a huge fan of the fourth amendment and the protections that it provides us, however I don't think this ruling is nearly as grave as the "news story" cited makes it out to be. There are a number of situations that enable a police officer to perform a search without a warrent. No offense to the person that said it, but I don't think this is much of a move towards big brother