The Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. Gant today was a pleasant surprise. The Court struck a blow against the deeply flawed search-incident-to-arrest doctrine that has permitted police to perform a vehicle search anytime someone in the car is arrested. For the last 28 years, concerns over officer safety have been held to permit ridiculous numbers of automatic vehicle searches that had more to do with the drug war than officer safety.
My thoughts on the case are over at Flex Your Rights.
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