Thursday, August 14, 2014

I do not consent to this search

Words to live by.  Closely followed by "Am I under arrest?", "Am I being detained?", and "Am I free to go?"

Golfers frisked as Obama arrives to play golf.

Government agents have no right to walk up to you and search you.  It requires what is called "reasonable articulable suspicion", and it requires a warrant to search you or your possessions without your consent, other than an "officer safety" pat-down if they do have reason to stop you.  These searches were illegal and unconstitutional.  I don't understand why people submit to this kind of garbage.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The difference it that they are frisking to safeguard the president. Anything they find will be inadmissible as evidence in a criminal prosecution, but they didn't care about that anyway.

heresolong said...


I don't think this matters. Your Constitutional rights don't go away because the President decides to walk up to you. Different story if you go somewhere to see the President, but by your description the President could decide to visit my house and the SS would have the right to search it.

Similarly, a police officer can't walk up to you on a golf course or at a coffee shop and pat you down for "officer safety". He has to have a reason to have initiated the contact before he can claim any rights over your person.