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Wandering Sheep 9-2-10

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New Haven Register: Bill would let Connecticut towns seek search warrants to inspect properties by Jordan Fenster:

A bill up for legislative review would grant municipalities the right to seek a search warrant if zoning officials believe there has been an ordinance violation.

The pending legislation, requested by state Rep. Susan Johnson, D-Windham, is the result of a state Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the right of citizens to, in the words of the court’s decision, “be free from unreasonable searches.”

In the case of the town of Bozrah v. Anne D. Chmurynski, town zoning official Thomas Weber had been asked to examine private property because, according to the court record, “he intended to inspect the property for ‘junk.’”

And the beat goes on:

GPB News: Welfare Drug Testing Bill Revised by Jeanne Bonner:

Georgia lawmakers are revising a bill that opponents say is almost certain to land in federal court. It would require welfare recipients to take a drug test before receiving benefits. Its sponsor says the measure would save taxpayers money but others say it’s unconstitutional.

Sen. John Albers, a Roswell Republican, is the bill’s sponsor. He modeled it on a Florida law, now blocked by a federal judge because it violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection from unlawful search.

When these clowns pass such bills, they just make money for the plaintiffs' civil rights bar that files the case in attorneys fees. They are clueless.

Inventory policy that allows the vehicle to go with somebody “immediately available,” not otherwise defined, does not require the police to allow somebody to be called and the police wait for that person to show up. The person essentially has to be there already. If the inventory is conducted in “good faith,” that’s enough. United States v. Reyes-Vencomo, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34141 (D. N.M. February 13, 2012):

The officers initiated the search in compliance with standardized police procedures and the requirement that the officers make a post-search notation regarding the decision to search adds little to the protections that the Fourth Amendment and Supreme Court precedent seeks to impose. The Fourth Amendment is satisfied so long as an officer conducts an inventory search in good faith. See United States v. Battle, 370 F.App'x at 430 (citing Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. at 374). Holfelder and Ortega conducted an orderly inventory search, documenting and photographing the items in the vehicle as they went, and were not "general[ly] rummaging in order to discover incriminating evidence." United States v. Martinez, 512 F.3d at 1274. Holfelder explained that he understood the policy's purpose to be to protect the department and the driver's property, and nothing indicates that he was acting in bad faith. See United States v. Maraga, 76 F.App'x at 228 ("An impoundment must either be supported by probable cause, or be consistent with the police role as 'caretaker' of the streets and completely unrelated to an ongoing criminal investigation."); United States v. Lugo, 978 F.2d at 636 ("When the police acquire temporary custody of a vehicle, a warrantless inventory search of the vehicle does not offend Fourth Amendment principles so long as the search is made pursuant to 'standard police procedures' and for the purpose of 'protecting the car and its contents.'"). Failing to make a notation in the police report regarding the tow decision was a minor deviation from procedure, and an understandable one given the circumstances, and does not render the inventory search invalid.

[I had to go read these cases on good faith, and both appear to just be throw-away lines as to what the government's burden of proof is:

Battle: "Rather, he acted in good faith as he undertook to identify, secure and protect valuable property."

Bertine: "We conclude that here, as in Lafayette, reasonable police regulations relating to inventory procedures administered in good faith satisfy the Fourth Amendment, even though courts might as a matter of hindsight be able to devise equally reasonable rules requiring a different procedure."

So, don't see there being a "good faith exception" to inventory searches. Good faith inventory and not a rummaging is something that the government has to prove in every case.]

The Communist Party purges a populist leader.

GEORGIA

Killer gets life without parole; victim's wife now a suspect

DECATUR | A corporate engineer who fawned over a female subordinate was found guilty but mentally ill Thursday of fatally shooting the woman's husband in an ambush outside a suburban Atlanta preschool.

After a judge sentenced Hemy Neuman to ...

Why Are Most Democrats Congenital Open Border Advocates? 4-14-11

Some men think they can get away with vulgarity because they're on the 'correct' side on social issues; others tire of being bullied by the language police.

There are significant changes in the labor market, including the liberalization of 108 restricted professions.

What happened to Ted Stevens will keep happening to ordinary Americans unless judges change the rules.

Nondiscrimination laws become a morass of claims and counterclaims.

It's been confirmed: They are down with living in the basement.

About 30 percent of young Americans age 25 to 34 who once left their family homes have moved back in, says a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.

Not only is there no stigma attached to being ...

Are the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks risking a potential Senate Republican majority in the name of ideological purity?

With so many ships trawling the crowded waters of the Persian Gulf, there is always the risk of an 'accident' or 'collision' with unintended consequences.

Just months after falling victim to a recall effort, the author of Arizona's immigration crackdown is weighing whether to jump back into another legislative race.

A leader of the movement against illegal immigration, Russell Pearce is slated to announce his plans Monday at a Red Mountain Tea Party meeting in ...

David Pimentel on criminal child neglect and the 'free range kid.'

It touched $600 on Thursday, still cheap if the company can keep up its torrid growth. If.

Regulators discover a crime wave in markets they don't control.