The push for DUI enforcement is getting a bit out of hand

We all know that the push for DUI enforcement is getting a bit out of hand.  In an effort to limit this, the US Supreme Court in J.L (529 U.S. 266) held that a bare bones anonymous tip reporting that another driver may be under the influence is not sufficient for a stop, and that the tip must be corroborated by law enforcement.  But what level of corroboration is necessary?  In Navarette v. California (2014 572 U.S. ­­­­____), CHP received an anonymous tip that a truck had nearly run another driver off the road.  Twenty minutes and twenty miles later, the CHP found the truck and tailed it for five minutes, and observed no unsafe driving before stopping the vehicle.  The majority, led by Thomas, found that the tip, alleging behavior more serious than a traffic infraction, supplies probable cause for the stop in itself.  Not impressed by this circular nonsense, Scalia wrote a searing dissent which was joined by Ginsberg, Sotomayor and Kagen, stating that “the Court’s opinion serves up a freedom-destroying cocktail consisting of two parts falsity: 1) that anonymous 911 reports of traffic violations are reliable so long as they correctly report a car and its location, and 2) that a single instance of careless or reckless driving necessarily supports a reasonable suspicion of drunkenness…  Drunken driving is a serious matter, but so is the loss of our freedom to come and go as we please without police interference.”  Ouch.

While the above decision and others such as Hobby Lobby has us fearing for the integrity, and even the sanity, of the US Supreme Court, there are rays of light!  In Riley v. California (2014 DJ DAR 8220), SCOTUS finds that searching a smartphone without a warrant violates the 4th Amendment.  Seems common sense, no?  Should the private contents of a smartphone not constitute “papers” as envisioned by the framers?  Strangely, this has been a long battle.  In People v. Diaz (2011) 51 Cal4th 84, the California Supreme Court tortured jurisprudence and logic to decide that a cellphone was more like a container (a pack of cigarettes, to be exact), than like a diary or vault, and thus can be searched incident to an arrest without a warrant.  Riley is certainly a breath of fresh air.

Finally, as to Hobby Lobby, I recently saw a bumper sticker that made me smile.  It read: “I will believe that a corporation is a person when Texas executes one.”