Supreme Court Says Police Can Use Evidence Obtained Illegally

(Counter Current News) In a massive failure of the justice system, police can now use evidence obtained illegally, after police illegally stop people. There is still no punishment for the police officers for their ILLEGAL stop. Say goodbye to your 4th amendment protections.

The Supreme Court ruled that evidence found by police officers after illegal stops may be used in court if the officers conducted their searches after learning that the defendants had outstanding arrest warrants, reported The NY Times.

Justice Sotomayor still defends people in this bad Supreme Court decision because people of color are disproportionately target by police.

Justice Thomas’s opinion drew a fiery dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who said that “it is no secret that people of color are disproportionate victims of this type of scrutiny.”

“This case tells everyone, white and black, guilty and innocent, that an officer can verify your legal status at any time,” she wrote. “It says that your body is subject to invasion while courts excuse the violation of your rights. It implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged.”

“The case, Utah v. Strieff, No. 14-1373, arose from police surveillance of a house in South Salt Lake based on an anonymous tip of “narcotics activity” there. A police officer, Douglas Fackrell, stopped Edward Strieff after he had left the house based on what the state later conceded were insufficient grounds, making the stop unlawful,” according to The Times.

Officer Fackrell then discovered a warrant for a minor traffic violation. So he arrested Mr. Strieff, and searched him to find methamphetamines and drug paraphernalia.The justices had to decide whether the drugs must be suppressed because of the illegal stop, or whether they could be used as evidence given the arrest warrant.

Justice Sotomayor said this court decision vastly expanded police power.

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