Communism is here
The Associated Press reported that an Iowa state trooper pulled over Michael Spahlinger of Cleveland Heights, Ohio on Thursday. According to the story, the trooper pulled the vehicle over on Interstate 80 near Council Bluffs to perform a routine search and eventually discovered 48 pounds of pot. Without getting into the whole drug debate, let's stick with the Constitutional issue, specifically the Fourth Amendment, which supposedly protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. The part of the story that bugs me is the phrase "routine search". As near as I can tell, any systematic searching of vehicles would be prohibited by the Constitution. Fourth Amendment -- "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and