Seattle Post-Intelligencer: High court: U.S. Constitution limits searches

This is actually good and bad news – good news that the Washington State Supreme Court is interpreting the U.S. and Washington Constitutions correctly, bad that it even had to be done in the first place.  I mean, come on people – you search without a proper warrant, and expect whatever you find to be useful?  That’s what happens in totalitarian regimes, like Cuba, China, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union.  That’s not how it’s supposed to happen here.  (I’ll refrain from inserting disparaging remarks about the Soviet Socialist Republic of California at this time…)

And no, I don’t care that the cops were trying to shut down a crack house.  What happens when it’s your condo or apartment and the cops decide they’re going to enforce the flag desecration amendment, or gay marriage, or gun rights?  Sure, warrant-less searches seem like a good thing when you want to get rid of drug dealers (remember, there’s no amendment saying you can’t ingest whatever you want, nor that can’t manufacture or sell it), or when you want to stop terrorism, but it’s a slippery slope – that means that actions which seem to be doing good now may be used as precedent to support actions which are tyrranical in the future (just in case you were wondering ).

This won’t make it to the U.S. Supreme Court - this was strictly a State of Washington matter, and the U.S Supreme Court has no jurisdiction here.  If it is appealed there, I’d expect the Court to decline review, but then again, I’m reasonable and figured the Court would find eminent domain applied in New London, as well as interstate commerce and/or the 9th and 10th Amendments would cover medical marijuana in California.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: High court: U.S. Constitution limits searches