[cinFLA]

Because the state wants to establish its right to detain and I.D. anyone at any time the case goes forward.

No. The case goes forward because of the socialist Ninth. They rule on the side of the law-breakers most every time.

[Old Professer]

My dear Sir, you argue with your emotions not your sense of logic; first of all there is no cited law in the state where this took place that requires a resident or traveler to produce I.D. at the request of an officer, second where such laws have been written, they were struck down and held to be unenforcable by defect.

Hiibel was not prosecuted for any crime that took place prior to the stop by the officer because none could be shown to have occurred; he is being hounded for the simple failure (refusal) to produce a document, a piece of paper, a testament sanctioned by the state that validates his existence and right to freely associate.

When did the state gain that power and, should it possess it in a free society?

Long after Hiibel is gone this case will remain; better it is addressed now in this time of high-anxiety than a future where laws are ignored wholesale.