A few years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court found yet another “DUI Exception the Constitution” in permitting police to set up roadblocks — even though they admittedly violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against stopping citizens without probable cause. See my earlier post DUI Sobriety Checkpoints: Unconstitutional? The Court, of course, was careful to restrict the use of such roadblocks to apprehension of drunk drivers exclusively.
Sure.
I predicted that this pathetic Rehnquist decision would prove yet another tool for police to circumvent the Constitution in non-DUI situations — resulting in a continuing erosion of that great document through a growing list of exceptions and word games. And this has repeatedly proven to be the case. From yesterday’s news:
Police At DUI Checkpoints Find More Than Drunk Drivers
Johnson County, KY Dec. 3 — Police at DUI checkpoints in one eastern Kentucky county find more than drunk drivers.
Police say they found marijuana and prescription pills in three un-related cases. Five suspects are in jail after sheriff deputies say they caught them red-handed with drugs, but some of the suspects put up a fight and tried to escape.
Johnson County Sheriff deputies say they noticed more traffic than usual on Highway 11-07 in Thelma.
After complaints from neighbors, deputies set up a DUI checkpoint to find out what was going on…
Officers call the checkpoint a success, “Nine bags of marijuana were taken off the streets and that means there’s nine bags of marijuana that won’t go into the hands of children in the Thelma area or Johnson County,†Sgt. Wyatt said
“…deputies set up a DUI checkpoint to find out what was going on”. And the reporter didn’t even notice anything wrong with that.
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