A few quotes from the Supreme Court, part I
The following are the quotes from the Supreme Court, where Justices actually recognize how the “drug menace” hysteria can influence even the decisions of the nation’s top court:
The unusual action the Court takes today illustrates how far the Court may depart from its principal mission when it becomes transfixed by the specter of a drug courier escaping the punishment that is his due.
and,
Our Nation, we are told, is engaged in a “war on drugs.” No one disputes that it is the job of law-enforcement officials to devise effective weapons for fighting this war. But the effectiveness of a law-enforcement technique is not proof of its constitutionality.
and,
“…[N]othing about the characteristics shown by airport traveler Sokolow reasonably suggests that criminal activity is afoot. The majority’s hasty conclusion to the contrary serves only to indicate its willingness, when drug crimes or antidrug policies are at issue, to give short shrift to constitutional rights.”
United States v. Sokolow (1989) (Justice Marshall, dissenting)
and,
“In my view the Customs Service rules are a kind of immolation of privacy and human dignity in symbolic opposition to drug use.
[...]
I think it obvious that this justification is unacceptable; that the impairment of individual liberties cannot be the means of making a point; that symbolism, even symbolism for so worthy a cause as the abolition of unlawful drugs, cannot validate an otherwise unreasonable search.”National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab (1989) (Justice Scalia, dissenting)
and,
“A majority of this Court, swept away by society’s obsession with stopping the scourge of illegal drugs, today succumbs to the popular pressures [of its immediate interests that appeal to feelings and distort the judgment].”
Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives Association (1989) (Justice Marshall, dissenting)
Notice, how all of these blurbs that warn the Court not to become a “loyal foot-soldier” in the War on Drugs appear in the dissenting opinions. In the next post, I will present a small compilation of quotes that are in sync with the prevalent social attitudes of the day.
admin :: Jun.09.2007 :: Legal Issues :: No Comments »