SUPREME COURT: Police Can Force Open Your Mouth And Swab Your DNA
Getty Images/William Thomas Cain
The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that DNA swabs are a "legitimate police booking procedure" that is allowed under the Constitution just like fingerprinting and mugshots.
The court's swing voter Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, which said DNA identification has become an important tool to help police identify suspects.
Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the court's most outspoken conservatives, wrote the dissenting opinion that was joined by three of the court's liberal justices. Scalia's dissent questioned Kennedy's assertion that DNA helps police identify suspects.
"The court's assertion that DNA is being taken, not to solve crimes, but to identify those in the state's custody taxes the credulity of the credulous," Scalia writes in his dissent.
The Supreme Court's decision upholds a Maryland law that was challenged by Alonzo King, whose DNA was taken after he was arrested for pointing a gun at a group of people. Police matched his DNA to a rape that had gone unsolved for six years.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-ruling-in-maryland-v-king-2013-6#ixzz2VD6mYoDQ
Now that the PRISM program is public, I re-read the Supreme Court opinion in Clapper v. Amnesty International decided just 4 months ago. I think it is now pretty embarrassing to the Court. Given the incredible dragnet sweep of Americans phone and email data done under PRISM, it is 100% certain that Amnesty International communications were included in the net. As with the DNA case, this is another where you would agree with the liberals on the Court and against the five conservatives.
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P.S. Roberts project cases probably coming next week.
I am fearful for us as a nation since it appears as if all of the parts of government are conspiring against the citizens.
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