Letter to the Editor: Speechless
BY Susan Hammond, Tulsa
Friday, April 13, 2012
4/13/12 at 2:43 AM
I was rendered speechless by the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that strip-searches could be carried out even for the most minor offense. This is an outrageous decision!
The Fourth Amendment says: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Can five Supreme Court justices not read simple English? How can they possibly not see what they have just approved as a violation of the "right of the people to be secure in their persons?"
What if you were arrested exercising your constitutional right to assemble peaceably? What if you were protesting an unjust law through non-violent civil disobedience? Would you be less willing to get yourself arrested if you knew there was a strip-search and a rubber glove waiting for you at central booking? To me, this ruling will have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights.
This may be a supremely ironic ruling. The state mandating a fee to pay for health care could be ruled an unconstitutional infringement on personal liberty, but the state requiring a thoroughly humiliating strip-search - for the most trivial offense - is not.
Letters to the editor are encouraged. Send letters to letters@tulsaworld.com.
