Posted on 01/30/2009 7:50:26 PM PST by Steelfish
Supreme Court Steps Closer to Repeal of Evidence Ruling
By ADAM LIPTAK Published: January 30, 2009
The Reagan administration’s attacks on the exclusionary rule — a barrage of speeches, opinion articles, litigation and proposed legislation — never gained much traction. But now that young lawyer, John G. Roberts Jr., is chief justice of the United States.
This month, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority in Herring v. United States, a 5-to-4 decision, took a big step toward the goal he had discussed a quarter-century before.
Taking aim at one of the towering legacies of the Warren Court, its landmark 1961 decision applying the exclusionary rule to the states, the chief justice’s majority opinion established for the first time that unlawful police conduct should not require the suppression of evidence if all that was involved was isolated carelessness.
That was a significant step in itself. More important yet, it suggested that the exclusionary rule itself might be at risk.
The Herring decision “jumped a firewall,” said Kent Scheidegger, the general counsel of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a victims’ rights group.
“I think Herring may be setting the stage for the Holy Grail,” he wrote on the group’s blog, referring to the overruling of Mapp v. Ohio, the 1961 Warren Court decision.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I would rather they overturn Roe and start interpreting the Commerce Clause rather than diluting 4th Amendment rights IMO
Afterall, we now have 3 cabinet secretaries who made simple mistakes.
You know I still can’t believe that John Stevens lasted from 81 to 88 under W and outlasted him. I wonder what the atcuarial odds on that were?
If W had replaced Stevens and put a 3rd conservative on there with Roberts and Alito, Obama winning would have been much easier to take. To be so close to that 5th vote and now to have it most likely gone forever...that hurts.
Kennedy will never vote to overrule a significant liberal precedent. At least I won’t believe it until he does.
If the NYT is ‘concerned’...it means we should be elated...lol
Can we get another link going here that is not biased in regards to this ruling?
Perhaps the Heritage Foundation or Landmark Legal Foundation opinion on the matter?
Seriously, if it weren’t for this exclusionary rule invented by the Warren Court, criminals like OJ and Bill Ayers would be serving life sentences- As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said “the guilty shouldn’t go free because the cop blundered.”
I would love to have a compromise ....
I think that the victim is victimized a second time when clear evidence showing the guilt of a “perp” is discarded. If a policeman does something improper - punish the policeman as appropriate (a separate crime) - BUT DON’T let a guilty person go.
If a policeman makes an honest mistake, maybe retraining is required. If a policeman does something unlawful, then let him be fired or fined or even perhaps do jail time (beating out a confession, etc.)
But I believe to let a murderer walk because a policeman did something wrong is a travesty of justice. It would be appropriate to say that we have a “LEGAL SYSTEM” and not a system for justice. A legal system is more concerned for “process” than for the rights of the people. Letting guilty people go is not right!
>“the guilty shouldn’t go free because the cop blundered.”
There was a Proverb I read the other day that said: “The wicked flee when no man pursues,but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
Isn’t it ironic that, it’s the people who have some regard for the law that get screwed over by it, and yet those that don’t (like the new Sec. of Treasury!) seem to be the bold ones.
You're going to have to help me understand what the new Secretary of Treasury and the exclusionary rule have in common as I don't see where any government agency trampled on his constitutional rights as interpreted by Chief Justices Roberts or Warren.
Absolutely. Punish the LEO appropriately if he abuses his position. But don’t let major criminals walk.
By the way, that’s how Bill Ayres got off. “Guilty as sin, free as a bird.”
Earl Warren was a major force for the destruction of our judicial system.
They lie often.
Its they're job to gather ‘evidence’ to garner a conviction.
Honest mistakes happen, and sometimes the guilty go free, not a good thing.
But it is better than letting the innocent rot in prison.
It would be different if the culture of police work were not so very corrupt.
I would rather our ‘masters be hobbled’ than to give them free reign....
But then I prefer freedom to tyranny...
They lie often.
Its they're job to gather ‘evidence’ to garner a conviction.
Prosecutors get promoted based on how many convictions they secure, not on how much justice they help attain; they have an incentive to convict people they know or suspect are innocent. I'm not saying they all do it, but the incentive is there, and people respond to incentives. There is a flaw in the system.
I am a prosecutor and that is not true. We go after the guilty and do our very best to EXCLUDE the innocent. I often go out of my way to help incompetent defense attorneys get their cases dismissed when the evidence is insufficient or shows that someone else is responsible. I NEVER want an innocent person prosecuted. I spend copious amounts of time trying to make sure we aren’t going after the wrong person.
It is absolutely true.
If you wish to debate the veracity of this Clump, then a demonstration of how a stoned prostitute can be gang banged in a tiny bathroom While levitating in the air is your ticket for admission.
Until you have shown that is possible Clump - not only will you not be taken seriously - I will deservedly make fun of you.
You may be speaking for yourself, but you do not speak for everyone, and when an incentive exists for government to do the wrong thing, it is extremely destructive. I probably don’t need to go into detail how the FBI lives on prosecutions, justice be damned (but, I could if you wish). I say again, there is a flaw in the system.
Did the criminal justice system clean up the Frame attempt Clump?
Have the members of your profession petitioned the silent US attorney for that part of NC to launch the criminal investigation that should have happened two years ago?
Have YOU? (I have sent a letter via the lie Stoppers campaign to get something done)
You personally Clump - as well as your profession almost to a man - are like those peaceful moderate muslims who never criticize the jihad.
I am not buying your crap anymore than theirs.
You PM me when the justice department caves to the vocal indignation of the nation’s district attorneys and police personnel.
You want to be thought of differently than Nifong, you better be doing something to make sure that crap gets cleaned up. He is you until then.
Period.
Nevertheless, I am only 30 years old and am not the elected DA in my county. When that day arrives my megaphone will be louder. I still speak up and do have a voice, but it only carries so far.
When it comes to the feds, there is only so much that can be done. They seem to be isolated and as untouchable as they come.
Nifong has no credibility in the legal community at large. What can be done here in Texas at the state level about him I am not sure.
I am sorry if I could do more about him and have done nothing.
I assure you that I am doing my part to uphold our laws and Constitution to the best of my ability. I even reject cases where people are charged with unlawfully carrying a firearm based on the 2nd Amendment. I have fought the establishment here on that issue and changed well entrenched opinions on the issue.
I have also charged people with assaulting unborn babies for punching a pregnant mother in the stomach. I had to fight uphill on that issue as well. I am proud of the strides I am making.
I am no moderate!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.