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From: ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.auto
Subject: Re: DWI Roadblocks
Message-ID: <3893@alice.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 19:19:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: alice.3893
Posted: Mon Jun 24 19:19:57 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Jun-85 08:08:36 EDT
References: <979@homxa.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
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Xref: watmath net.legal:1787 net.auto:7144

> Is it "unlawful search and seizure" if you are stopped at a road
> block and checked for DWI even though you were driving your car
> properly (not too fast or slow or weaving or anything, just minding
> your own business)?  Is it "uss" if they do the same thing to check
> driver's license and registration?

I seem to recall that this particular issue was decided not too long
ago by the US Supreme Court.  Briefly, it is legal for police to
set up roadblocks to look for motor vehicle violations, as long as
they search every car (or they choose cars to search at random, without
only searching cars whose drivers are, say, men with long hair).
The court's basis for the decision was that you do not have the
same right of privacy in your car as you do in your home, and
that the right of people to drive in a safe environment overrides
the right of people in cars to be free from arbitrary government
interference.

I think it's absurd, but the only thing I can think of to do about it
is to stop driving a car, something I seriously consider every once
in a while.

Travel is not a right in this country.