Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 21:49:24 -0700
From: mikeh@cybertrails.com ("Michael Haggard")
Subject: [lpaz-repost] Fw: ALERT: TYRANNY IS MERELY "INCONVENIENT" SAY JUSTICES
To: lpaz-repost@yahoogroups.com ("lpaz-repost")
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From: "CCOPS Alerts" <webmaster@ccops.org>
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Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2001 9:01 PM
Subject: ALERT: TYRANNY IS MERELY "INCONVENIENT" SAY JUSTICES
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> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ALERT FROM CCOPS: CONCERNED CITIZENS OPPOSED TO POLICE STATES
> (subscribe and unsubscribe instructions are at end of Alert)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> April 28, 2001
>
> ALERT: TYRANNY IS MERELY "INCONVENIENT" SAY JUSTICES
>
> One day in 1997, Gail Atwater was returning from soccer practice
> along a gravel road in Lago Vista, Texas. She was driving 15
> miles per hour as her two children, heads out the indow,
> scanned the roadside for a lost toy. At that moment, police
> officer Bart Turek pulled her over. He had stopped her once
> before, suspecting that her son was riding without a seat belt.
> That time, the officer had been mistaken. This time, all three
> Atwaters were beltless -- a misdemeanor bearing a maximum fine
> of $50 apiece.
>
> In front of a growing crowd of witnesses, Turek screamed at
> Mrs. Atwater that he'd seen her before, and that this time she
> was going to jail. Turek handcuffed Atwater and refused her
> request to be allowed to take her children to a neighbor's home
> two doors away. One of the onlookers eventually took charge of
> the terrified four- and six-year-olds, while their mother was
> hauled to jail, and forced to empty her pockets and submit to
> the indignity of a mug shot and fingerprinting.
>
> On April 23, 2001, U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter,
> writing for the 5-to-4 majority in the case of Atwater v. Lago
> Vista, claimed that this example of a police state in action
> was merely "... inconvenient to Atwater, but not so
> extraordinary as to violate the Fourth Amendment."
>
> Inconvenient? What kind of person imagines that being dragged
> from your terrified children in handcuffs is a mere
> "inconvenience"? What kind of person equates being booked,
> fingerprinted and jailed with genuine inconveniences, such as
> having to stand in line too long at the supermarket or having
> a business appointment canceled at the last minute? Anyone
making those claims understands neither the Fourth Amendment
> nor the growing gulf between ordinary Americans and the
> government they once believed existed to protect and serve
> them.
>
> What kind of person imagines that anyone, anywhere, can rightly
> be jailed for failing to wear a seat belt? Only an elitist who
> knows he himself will never be forced to endure the indignities
> he imposes upon the riff raff -- the riff raff being millions
> of ordinary Americans. The riff raff being you and me.
>
> What Bart Turek did to Gail Atwater was a naked -- and blatantly
> unconstitutional -- abuse of police power. It is also a perfect
> example of how laws "for your own good" (for safety and "for the
> children") are being used as America's latest excuse for
> tyrannical ruthlessness.
>
> The ACLU, in filing an amicus brief in Atwater v. Lago Vista,
> noted, "The Texas statute authorizing custodial arrest for any
> violation of its traffic code resembles the general warrants
> that were one of the principal motivating factors behind the
> American Revolution and the drafting of the Fourth Amendment."
>
> During oral arguments in December 2000, Justice Sandra Day
> O'Connor agreed, saying Atwater had the perfect Fourth Amendment
> case. Justice Anthony Kennedy, on the other hand, shrugged, "It
> is not a constitutional violation for a police officer to be a
> jerk."
>
> Although he was probably unaware of it, Kennedy was pointing the
> way toward the future. Now -- with the august blessing of the
> U.S. Supreme Court, and if your state laws allow it -- a cop
> who dislikes you, or who thinks you're giving him lip, or who's
> just having a bad day, can drag you off to jail for his own
> satisfaction. If you're known for fighting city hall or being a
> political activist, you can expect to be targeted and harassed
> for every broken taillight, misplaced insurance card, rolling
> stop or puff of excess exhaust from your tailpipe.
>
> As usual, expect minorities and the poor to be the most frequent
> targets of abuse; if police can't stop them for their race, or
> can't find sufficient drugs or cash in their possession to
> justify civil forfeiture, they can still threaten them with
> jail for exceeding the speed limit by five miles per hour. But
> we are all in danger - as the ordinary rural housewife, Mrs.
> Atwater, discovered.
>
> Mark these names well: David Souter; William Rehnquist, Anthony
> Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. They are the five
> who voted to let the police state storm America's highways. We
> might have expected it of the first three, but Scalia and
> Thomas, both Republican appointees, have just forfeited their
> claim to freedom lovers' trust. (Don't expect G.W. Bush's
> appointees to be any better.)
>
> The only thing these five can do now to redeem themselves is
> show their solid, unshakable support for the Second Amendment.
> Short of that, they are about as useless to freedom as that
> bubonic plague.
>
> We owe a vote of thanks to Justices O'Connor, Ginsburg, Breyer
> and Stevens for trying to hold back the steady stomp of the
> jackboots -- despite the fact that several of these four are
> not normally defenders of the Constitution.
>
> You can find the complete text of the Supreme Court's decision
> on Atwater v. Lago Vista at:
>
> http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/00slipopinion.html
>
> The Liberty Crew
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Original Material in CCOPS ALERTS are Copyright 2001 CCOPS, Inc.
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>
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