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Hit "View Replies" before you get too carried away. I just refuted claims that we are currently worse off than East Germany was. No freaking way, yet. Nor will *BAD* rulings like this lead to a real police state.

The Police State never comes gradually. It always flanks you and says "TaDa!"

A Police State can occur when, for example, the dimocrats finally dissolve themselves into obscurity and the Republicans debase themselves on pure power.

I'm actually more concerned about the infringements we can't see. Local cops can't really tell a damn thing about me with a drug dog....but the Feds have entire billion dollar black budgets to spy on every piece of information about our lives, with nobody to check up on them, not even dipwads in Congress.

With the local cops, I still get to go before a judge in public. Inconvenient, but still transparent.

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If the nefarious power grabbers were smart, they'd get everyone riled up about meaningless traffic stops and then come at them with a haymaker of real oppression when they're all worn out on little battles. Oh, I see our new overlords ARE smart!

I must disagree with your comment about the police state not coming on gradually. I present for your edification Great Britain. It is no longer lawful to defend yourself from an invader in your own home. You will be arrested, and the criminal you 'assaulted' will be able to swear a criminal complaint against you. You no longer need to be observed by human eyes exceeding the speed limit. Camera equipment placed along roadways take pictures after a radar gun (unmanned) detect your speed. A ticket is then mailed to your home. Trucks drive about detecting electromagnetic fields generated by television sets, comparing the number detected against the number registered. For tax purposes, you see. You are taxed on the number of t.v.'s in your home.

So a gradual police state is indeed possible. Does this ruling make the US one? No. But it is the tinyest step in the wrong direction.

"If the nefarious power grabbers were smart, they'd get everyone riled up about meaningless traffic stops and then come at them with a haymaker of real oppression when they're all worn out on little battles."

Or they'd use little traffic stops that no one cares about to get precedents on the books to use to support the really nasty tactics planned for later. Precedents matter. The SCOTUS hates nothing more than to overturn a SCOTUS decision. It forces them to admit that sometimes, they're wrong.

"I'm actually more concerned about the infringements we can't see. Local cops can't really tell a damn thing about me with a drug dog....but the Feds have entire billion dollar black budgets to spy on every piece of information about our lives, with nobody to check up on them, not even dipwads in Congress."

That is the most scary element, the idea that a state can develop such a technological sophistication that it CAN efficiently suppress all improper behavior before it gets out of hand.