Aggregated News
The Supreme Court erred grievously this year when it permitted Maryland police to collect DNA samples from people who had been arrested and charged with serious crimes — samples that could then be used to match that person's genetic profile with evidence from unrelated unsolved crimes. As Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out in a scathing dissent, the 5-4 decision upholding Maryland's law undermined the 4th Amendment's ban on "searching a person for evidence of a crime when there is no basis for believing the person is guilty of the crime."
When the decision came down, it was widely assumed that it also disposed of constitutional objections to a similar program in California. Last week, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union told the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that wasn't necessarily so. Indeed, the appeals court could rule in good conscience — and without defying the Supreme Court — that California goes too far.
Under Proposition 69, approved by California voters in 2004, DNA evidence is collected from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony. Someone who is...
When the decision came down, it was widely assumed that it also disposed of constitutional objections to a similar program in California. Last week, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union told the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that wasn't necessarily so. Indeed, the appeals court could rule in good conscience — and without defying the Supreme Court — that California goes too far.
Under Proposition 69, approved by California voters in 2004, DNA evidence is collected from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony. Someone who is...