Posted on 07/25/2005 6:52:04 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
"UNCONSTITUTIONAL"
Jul 25, 2005 4:00 pm US/Eastern
Commuters in New Jersey were under a new level of scrutiny Monday as police started random baggage searches in response to two sets of bombings in London earlier this month.
Commuters at Penn Station in Newark seemed unruffled.
``I think it's the way the world is today. I think it's pretty standard going forward, unfortunately,'' said Maria Parisi, of Brielle, a fashion designer, as she waited for a train to New York.
Authorities pledged the inspections would be done randomly to prevent racial and ethnic profiling, but the American Civil Liberties Union maintained the searches were unconstitutional.
``One thing for sure is you're giving up your privacy rights in exchange for nothing. This is not going to make us safer or deter terrorism. It is not an effective police practice,'' said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the ALCU's New Jersey chapter.
She said no decision has been made on whether to pursue a challenge to the policy, but that the chapter will have a complaint form on its Web site by Wednesday.
NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said officers searched bags at the Trenton and Secaucus stations during the morning rush, and would be at other stations as the program continued.
``The inspections have gone very well. We've had 100 percent cooperation from our customers,'' she said.
People who refuse to open bags are not allowed to ride NJ Transit buses and trains, or the PATH light rail to New York. Police, however, could not detain people solely for refusing, under rules announced last week by the state.
(Excerpt) Read more at 1010wins.com ...
Let posterity forget that goosestepping morons were our countrymen.
Private airlines uses public airspace.
Are people walking down public streets being searched?
You're just an ass!
In addition when I report for jury duty in Nassau County Court I pass thru a metal detector, empty my pockets, and have my bag searched, if I have one.
The operative phrase here is "unreasonable". Depriving a citizen of liberty without due process is also unconstitutional, yet we did just that to thousands of citizens in WWII as we interred Nisei. Having done some reading on that time period I don't believe that it was unreasonable.
Those were war times and so is our present era. I see this action as being upheld. Whether it's effective is to be decided.
It might be shown to be unconstitutional if other forms of criminal activity are uncovered while searching people, and those people are then prosecuted for non-terrorism crimes.
Because that has nothing to do with terrorism, which is the reason they're using to justify the searches.
Not yet.
But they'll get around to it.
Sadly, this statement makes the whole exercise worse than useless.
All they have to do is refuse, then go and board another train. Only innocent passengers would be searched, and then they would get on a train with someone who had avoided it.
I heard that the explosives were in food containers. Anybody else carry food containers?
"I know it's a tired cliche but ACLU get A CLU"
What an appropriate cliche! I, for one, and maybe the only one, have never heard that before. Thanks for sharing it.
"I suppose you have no right to walk down a public street either."
You have the right to walk down a public street but NOT with a bomb in your backpack.
Bzzzt wrong. Which is why the search cannot be compelled.
This is a put-on show for the sheeple, and helps condition the sheeple to submit. (Now, what cult's name means "submit?")
So, when our government craps on the Constitution, what does it get?
It gets military recruitment WAAAAAAY below quota.
The only thing worth defending is freedom.
Is there a security measure that the ACLU won't complain about?They are as loyal to the Islamic terrorist as they are to murderers and molesters.What good could possibly come from a group of communist lawyers who always take the side of the scumbag?
There are rules you need to follow in order to get on a plane or a train, and there are rules you need to follow in order to walk down a public street. If you don't believe it, try walking down a public street stark naked. The police will be along shortly to inform you that that's not allowed, and that you must wear some clothes if you want to walk down a public street.
But are these searches unreasonable? Most would say not, although I don't think the founders would agree withe them, but rather with you. It's not like this isn't a situation that could not have occurred in their day. Blackpowder makes a perfectly good small scale bomb.
I think if the rule was that anything they found, other than the tools of terror, could not be used in court against the owner, then the rule would pass Constitutional muster. If the find a dime bag, or some meth, or pot, well "move on nothing to see here". If they find explosives, detonators, etc, etc, then they can confiscate them and make the owners wear a big sign that says "terrorist" while on board any public transportation.
If the transit companies were doing this on their own, and weren't governmental or quasi governmental agencies, they would be free to set any restrictions they wished, and the police could enforce the trespass laws against anyone not willing to put up with those restrictions.
Of course the real, and effective, solution to terror is to find and kill or at least incarcerate, the terrorists. Then keep killing them until there are no more, or the remaining ones, wanna bes and so forth, cry "no mas, no mas"
"So, when our government craps on the Constitution, what does it get?
It gets military recruitment WAAAAAAY below quota.
The only thing worth defending is freedom."
I assume "freedom" includes being able to board a bus, subway, or airline without the threat of being blown to bits.
Well said, El Gato.
By the way, are you also against searching student's backpacks and the use of metal detectors when they enter schools? I suppose one could say that is an invasion of their privacy, their constitutional rights, but on the other hand, how many school shootings have been prevented due to such procedures?
For college, then yes. Privacy Rights apply.
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