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more on When police ask your name, you must give it, Supreme Court says
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 06:28:52 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Stewart, William C (Bill), RTSLS" <billstewart () att com> Date: June 21, 2004 10:15:07 PM EDT To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com Cc: bill () scannell orgSubject: RE: [IP] When police ask your name, you must give it, Supreme Court says
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-5554.ZS.html While the Hiibel decision was certainly appalling, and is yet another example of why we need to replace Rehnquist with somebody who understands and likes the Constitution, it's not as broad as the AP headline implies. Nevada has a state law requiring you to identify yourself if a policeman demands it, and if you're in a state with a similar law, that law might be constitutional, and about 20 states have them. The Nevada law doesn't require you to produce documentation of identity, and the courts have found such laws often unconstitutionally void for vagueness in the past. However, as the majority opinion says, "The present case begins where our prior cases left off.", and my reading of that is that the majority opinion is definitely extending the power to make such laws to the states, grabbing territory that might have previously been a gray area. (That's the sort of thing that right-wing Republicans and Strict Constructionists call "Judicial Activism", and they view it as bad when their political opponents do it.) One of the many things wrong with this decision is that, while the Nevada law narrowly requires you to identify yourself, but does not require you to produce documentation, the police officer who accosted Hiibel did demand it, and the court doesn't seem to view that distinction as important. It's not clear to me that refusal to cooperate with this unlawful demand constitutes "willfully resisting" under the statute that Hiibel was actually charged under, but I'm not a lawyer and haven't seen the lower court cases, only the Supreme Court's opinions. papersplease.org, Hiibel's site, is a bit overloaded right now. Bill Stewart, bill.stewart () pobox com ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on When police ask your name, you must give it, Supreme Court says David Farber (Jun 22)