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opinion:
our view
Court decisions
will hinder liberties
The Supreme Court
handed down two split decisions this week that promise to make
life a little more difficult for everyone.
In one, the court
ruled that civil rights lawsuits alleging discriminatory policies
were prohibited unless discrimination was deliberate. In the
other, the court reaffirmed the rights of police officers
to handcuff and detain people for any traffic offense, no
matter how trivial.
Regarding the first
decision, what legislative body would pass legislation that
was intentionally racist or discriminatory? The standard way
policies are deemed discriminatory, or more unconstitutional,
is through legal challenges.
By putting this
barrier on potential lawsuits, judges will have the option
to reject numerous cases by summary judgement, cases that
would potentially be valid challenges to bad policies.
Supporters of the
ruling say the ruling would clear already clogged court dockets.
Unfortunately, it eliminates legitimate cases along with the
frivolous ones.
One area of lawsuits
that will be immediately impacted will be legislation against
the location of unpleasant environmental services in minority
neighborhoods.
Lawsuits are often
the only way people have to fight policies like these, since
they do not have the financial or lobbying clout to prevent
things like this from happening in the first place.
Regarding the second
decision, the police already take liberties when dealing with
suspects, giving them more rights will only lead to confrontations
and more excessive force lawsuits. That the ruling was based
on a case involving not wearing a seatbelt shows how trivial
the ruling is.
Police in many
states treat every traffic stop as a chance for a warrant
free dug search and cases of people getting pulled over for
"driving while black" happen with disgusting regularity.
Giving the police the option to detain people for the most
trivial of reasons will only make a bad situation worse.
That the rulings
were both 5-4 is also a portent of things to come. The one
place where President Bush is most likely to leave a lasting
legacy is in the Supreme Court.
Just as Bush spent
his first 100 days overturning many Clinton policies, whichever
democrat defeats Bush in 2004 will overturn many of Bush's
bizarre policies. But Supreme Court justices, like death and
taxes, are forever.
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