Alone
Of Republican Appointees, Antonin Scalia Sides With Constitution
by
I
don’t always agree with Scalia, but Monday he really renewed my respect for his
integrity. It would have been even more wonderful if any other
Republican-appointed Supreme Court Justice had done so.
To
set up the issue, read the following words slowly:
“The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.”
Now,
with that in mind, please promptly obey any police officer who tells you to
open your mouth wid so he can swab your cheek to keep a permanent record of
your DNA in a state database.
In
a five-to-four decision Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the state has the
authority, when you are arrested, to take and keep a record of your DNA. Right
now, if they arrested you and suspected you of murder, they would still have to
get a warrant from a judge to search your home. But your body is up for grabs.
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons” is pretty much a museum
piece at this point.
I
understand that rapists have been caught and convicted by these general sweeps.
But the fact remains that the state is supposed to submit to rules about who
they convict and punish. In the Bible, if you had one trustworthy witness who
testified about a murder you were not permitted to convict the person. There
had to be two witnesses for a capital crime (Numbers 35.30; Deuteronomy 17.6).
It didn’t matter if you, as a judge or civil magistrate, were certain the man
was guilty on the basis of one witness. You had to leave him alone. In a free
society, sometimes criminals will get away with crime. A free society demands
faith in God to mete out justice, rather than the creation of an omnipotent,
omniscient god-state.
If
the states can do this kind of violation on the basis of an arrest (allegedly
only “for a serious offense” but I have no idea what that means), we can expect
similar and worse behavior from other institutions, like schools illegally
recording student retina scans.
Notice
here that I’m not complaining about the state legally acquiring DNA and
starting a database. While that would be creepy and I would oppose it, if
someone finds I’ve left DNA material somewhere, then I can’t as easily claim
I’m not “secure in my person.” But to state that a police officer can
simply order me to open my mouth so he
can get his swab in there is not just a questionable action in a society with
the Fourth Amendment; it is a direct assault on what the words say.
NBC
News quoted a court watcher saying that Scalia’s vote “is a surprise in the
sense of his general conservatism.”
But
why would a Conservative want to overthrow the Constitution? Scalia was just
being conservative by striving to preserve the Fourth Amendment. Alito and his
faux-conservative ilk are the ones who require an explanation.
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