Bostonist: God Bless America: The Constitutional Right to Drink

ed

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 15:07:51 -0500

meh. i don't carry much cocaine or confess to doing a lot of things. i'm saying for the average drunk person who has not engaged in a lot of criminal behavior, no matter how much you may personally dislike cops, your rights are not going to save you from the night in jail if you give the cops a hard time. even if you have done nothing illegal. some people find this information surprising. as far as search and seizure goes, i am totally into rights. rights rule. hell, i used to work for the aclu.

Josh

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 14:48:39 -0500

Well, Ed, yes and no. It's true, the Supreme Court recently ruled that a Nevada law that required a person to show ID when asked by a cop was not unconstitutional (but there's no such law in Mass., so don't feel obliged, unless you're driving). But there have been many many cases where arrests were found to be unsupported by probable cause. While that won't get you your night in jail back, it will (in most cases) result in the suppression of the cocaine they found in your pocket when they did an inventory search of your belongings at the station. It will also keep prosecutors from using any confessions you foolishly make while in custody (although it's never wise to talk to police without a lawyer when you've been arrested). And when police know they won't be able to use evidence that they get by violating the Constitution (the theory goes), they're less likely to do so, which is good. So don't suppose that your constitutional rights are just theoretical. They're real, they're helpful, and damn it, I think they're worth defending! [Cue patriotic music in background]

ed

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 14:28:08 -0500

let me be the first to say that i bet even consensual sodomy could cause harm if not done carefully. that could hurt worse than falling off a tricycle. police can detain people for whatever reason they want. honestly, almost anything could be considered "dangerous" or "uncooperative." you can be arrested for refusing to show id. if it turns out that they didn't have reasonable suspicion, it's not like they're going to give you back that night you spent in jail. i doubt any decision the court makes will significantly change this.

Josh

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 14:19:40 -0500

It's not that there's a right to get drunk, per se, but rather a right to do anything at all (provided its doesn't harm anyone else) in the privacy of your own home. Regulating liquor sales doesn't implicate a person's home or privacy. Commerce is generally an area where government has broad regulatory leeway, while private action is not. I realize that this doesn't make sense when you consider drug laws (since shooting heroine at home alone doesn't harm anyone else but is not constitutionally protected), but I would chalk that logical inconsistency up to our nation's weird legal neurosis about certain kinds of drugs.