On Sun, 3 Jun 2001, Tim May wrote:
> So, neither before, during, or after does the "right to hide stuff"
> even become a meaningful question, as Declan notes.
Really? But the 'stuff' is what the warrant is about. You say that the
target of a warrant has no bearing on the warrant...you are confused in a
major way.
And to correct a point, once you become aware of evidence and the desire
to collect it during a felony case you are required to turn it over, even
after the warrant is served. Just because they didn't find it the first
time doesn't mean you get a free ride. As I understand it even in
misdemeanor cases destruction of evidence can be justification for a
felony charge itself.
> In this sense there's a practical "right to hide stuff.
Note the comment you made relevant to the 5th Amendment...it's more than
practical (ie you can hide it because there isn't anyone there to stop
you).
> This doesn't have to be spelled out as a "right to hide stuff,"
> though. Same reason there is no need to spell out some "right to
> privacy." (And in fact, attempts to spell out such a right end up
> doing all sorts of harm to liberty, e.g, by limiting what _others_
> can do with information they lawfully obtained.)
It seems to me that current history argues the contrary to your assertion.
If 'privacy' weren't such a big deal why then has the Supreme Court sat on
its ass with respect to the 'IR Search' issue that it is facing today? Why
is it likely (as I predicted) that the case will sit until this term
expires at the end of this month. Effectively squashing the question until
somebody makes a new submission to the court (as they are not required to
hold over unfinished cases from previous terms). Police will as a result
become slightly more for-warned about the situation and have a 'practical'
ruling in their favor (ie IR searches are allowed because they haven't
been prohibited) and the basic issue will remain undecided (not a good
thing). The question may never be decided if the police then use this
evidence through some sort of 'blinding mechanism' (ie the data is handed
to another team who then pursues the case via other means).
--
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