Tag Archives: search and seizure

State Rep. Pat Heinert, a Republican from Bismarck who also serves as the Sheriff of Burleigh County, argues against legislation introduced by Rep. Rick Becker, also a Bismarck Republican, which would outlaw DUI checkpoints.

Video: ND House Almost Passes Bill Which Would Have Outlawed DUI Checkpoints

- January 27, 2017 - ,

Video: ND House Almost Passes Bill Which Would Have Outlawed DUI Checkpoints

- January 27, 2017 - ,

The North Dakota House of Representatives today spent more than twenty minutes of floor time debating a bill which would have outlawed DUI checkpoints. It was a remarkable debate despite the loss of the bill. Remarkable because it put on display a libertarian-minded faction of state House which has grown over the years. The lawmakers…

North Dakotans Should Beware the Rise of Insta-Warrants

- June 24, 2016 - ,

Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an odious DUI law passed by lawmakers in 2013 which criminalized the refusal of a warrantless blood test (warrantless breath tests were allowed to stand, despite a dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, but that’s a subject for another post). It’s a good thing to require the…

4th amendment

ND Supreme Court: Cops Can Violate The 4th Amendment As Long As They Do So Quickly

- December 2, 2015 - ,

Yesterday the North Dakota Supreme Court handed down two separate rulings related to the same incident, and it rulings have serious implications for privacy rights and the state of the 4th amendment in North Dakota. You can read the opinions in State of North Dakota v. Asbach and State of North Dakota v. Walker online. What happened…

When Is It Reasonable For The Government To Break The Law?

- December 16, 2014 - ,

Yesterday the Supreme Court handed down a ruling on a search and seizure case which didn’t get a lot of attention in the media but should have. Heien vs. North Carolina related to a traffic stop which led to a drug arrest. The stop was initiated when an officer noticed a broken brake light, and drugs…

More Than 500,000 Private Contractors Have Access To Top Secret Information

- June 11, 2013 -

How was a twenty-something employee of a federal contractor able to access the sensitive, top-secret information about the NSA’s surveillance programs? By being one of some 500,000 private contractors, and 900,000 federal employees, who have top secret security clearance according to the Washington Post: The tone of the Post article seems to point fingers at…

Supreme Court Gives OK To Government DNA Databases

- June 3, 2013 -

According to the Supreme Court, it’s not an unreasonable search for law enforcement to swab an arrested suspect for DNA and then keep a database of that DNA information for identification purposes. Justice Kennedy writes in the majority opinion that DNA swabs are just an updated form of wanted posters and fingerprinting: A DNA profile…

Obama Administration Seized Phone Records From The US House

- May 16, 2013 -

According to Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA), we’re missing the boat on the Justice Department phone record grab scandal. Yeah, it’s bad that the Associated Press was targeted, but it’s also worth remembering that the phones targeted were in the US House and are often used by members of Congress. Here’s Nunes, speaking on the Hugh…

Holder: Searching Reporter Phone Calls Is So Routine I Can't Remember How Many Times It Has Happened

- May 15, 2013 -

So what he’s saying is the recently-divulged search of phone calls placed by AP reporters wasn’t the only instance. In fact, what he seems to be saying is that this sort of thing is so routine he can’t remember how many times it has happened. As his Justice Department faces bipartisan outrage for searching phone…

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