papers, please
by John at 6/21/2004 03:23:00 PM
Thanks to our Republican friends on the Supreme Court of the United States, you are now required to present identification when asked by an officer of the law. It seems this practice doesn't violate Amendment IV, after all, despite that part about the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." It all depends on what is unreasonable, right? In this age of terror, perhaps, less and less becomes unreasonable.
Maybe next we will be required to quarter troops in our homes, "in a manner to be prescribed by law." That would help keep down defense and homeland security spending, and it should also keep those pesky liberals (and libertarians!) from mouthing off.
Maybe next we will be required to quarter troops in our homes, "in a manner to be prescribed by law." That would help keep down defense and homeland security spending, and it should also keep those pesky liberals (and libertarians!) from mouthing off.
Clarification: actually, you may only be required to identify yourself, not provide identification. This seems like a small difference to me, but one that some people are holding on to. If you have to provide your name then the police can look up the rest, including a digital copy of your driver's license photograph from the DMV database, at which point they will know if you are lying or not (if you are lying, you are probably resisting arrest just like the Nevada man who brought the case to SCOTUS). If this technology doesn't exist yet, it will soon.
Elwood: I bet these cops got SCMODS.
Jake: SCMODS?
Elwood: State County Municipal Offender Data System.("The Blues Brothers" 1980)
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