As of March 26, we're $27,100 in the red for the quarter. Donate here to support this vital work
Subscribe here and join over 13,000 subscribers to our free weekly newsletter

Supreme Court says police may take DNA samples from arrestees
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Washington Post


Washington Post, June 3, 2013
Posted: July 16th, 2013
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-03/politics/39704...

A divided Supreme Court ruled [on June 3] that police may take DNA samples when booking those arrested for serious crimes, narrowly upholding a Maryland law and opening the door to more widespread collection of DNA by law enforcement. The court ruled 5 to 4 that government has a legitimate interest in collecting DNA from arrestees ... to establish the identity of the person in custody. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia ... amplified his displeasure by reading a summary of his dissent from the bench. The court has cast aside a bedrock rule of our Fourth Amendment law: that the government may not search its citizens for evidence of crime unless there is a reasonable cause to believe that such evidence will be found, Scalia said from the bench. He added, Make no mistake about it: As an entirely predictable consequence of todays decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national DNA database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason. Steven R. Shapiro, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union said the decision creates a gaping new exception to the Fourth Amendment and violates a long-established understanding that police cannot search for evidence of a crime ... without individualized suspicion.

Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government assaults on privacy, click here.


Latest News


Key News Articles from Years Past