Don’t lose that beach body yet; you might want to look good if you ever end up on the wrong side of the law.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote on April 2 that law enforcement officials may strip-search a person arrested for any offense, no matter how minor, and regardless of whether there is probable cause.
The ruling is yet another addition to the authoritarian powers and policies that have plagued 21st-century American governance. From warrantless surveillance to these needless strip searches, Americans have stood idly by as their civil liberties have been stripped one by one over the past decade.
Of course, the Supreme Court justices did not base their decision on how they could best tear civil rights away from civilians.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, aided by the more conservative members of the Supreme Court, stated in the majority opinion that the strip searches were necessary in order to keep criminals from smuggling contraband into prison. They argued the searches helped keep prisons secure.
While this may be a worthy goal, the ruling reflects what Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald calls the “definitive police state mentality … that isolated risks justify the most sweeping security measures.” This ruling ignores the rights of the innocent in order to better protect against the guilty, and in doing so, it restricts the liberty of all.
These strip searches entail violations of privacy and protections of the Fourth Amendment, such as the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and open up the potential for this new power to be abused.
What happens if a male officer subjects a woman arrested for a minor crime to a strip search for his own amusement? What happens even if it’s a man subjected to such a search for no real reason?
What would be a case of sexual harassment is now the legal use of authority by a police officer. The court’s ruling essentially weakened the only protection civilians have against abusive searches and seizures by law enforcement: the need for probable cause.
And if you believe that no officer would ever subject someone to a strip search without a real cause, then I have news for you.
Strip searches have already been applied in minor crimes.
According to Adam Liptak of The New York Times, strip searches may be applied to people who commit such minor offenses as violating leash laws, driving without a license or failing to use a turn signal.
Yet, Justice Kennedy argued that those arrested for minor crimes are sometimes “the most devious and dangerous criminals.” He cited Timothy McVeigh and one of the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attacks as examples of criminals who were arrested for minor crimes before committing major atrocities.
This is a leap in logic.
I’m sure McVeigh and the other terrorist had homes as well. And in those homes they may have even had their own rooms. Does this mean we should raid everyone’s homes and put surveillance in everyone’s rooms on the off chance that someone might commit a crime?
No. So why should all arrestees be potentially subjected to a strip search if there is no probable cause?
Some may not care so much for this ruling, as it only applies to people who have been arrested, and many people do not have sympathy for those who break the law.
The problem is that constitutional rights are not supposed to be open to negotiation. There shouldn’t be a time when Fourth Amendment protections are valid and another time when they aren’t. If the rights protected for us in the Constitution aren’t upheld at all times, they no longer have any meaning.
It’s sad and ironic that the Supreme Court would play such a role in weakening a constitutional protection. But it’s much worse that we Americans have allowed such protections to be squandered in recent years.
Eventually this country will have to decide: Will we trade some security for our freedom, or will we relinquish our liberty for security?
 
David Scheuermann is a 20-year-old mass communication and computer science sophomore from Kenner. Follow him on Twitter at @TDR_dscheu.
 
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Contact David Scheuermann at [email protected]