On Sun, Mar 9, 2008 at 7:53 AM, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > In Texas, if you're an adult, you cannot be outside your residence without > an ID.
Unless the Fourth Amendment really has been eliminated (and they sure have worked at it the last few years), there's no way that can be true. No way. It's disturbing to me that anybody would even think that's even possible in this country. Brown v. Texas (1979) established that police can't stop people for no reason on the street and demand ID. The closest any laws come to requiring ID are the "stop and identify" laws that the Supreme Court upheld in 2007... but Texas doesn't even have one of those. Those laws require the police to have "reasonable suspicion" that criminal activity is taking place. Everywhere else, probable cause is required. Do a search on "identification," "probable cause" and "stop and identify" and you'll get lots of information about these cases. U.S. citizens -- even parolees -- are free to be in public in this country without ID... and I would hope that no Supreme Court ever fantasizes that the Fourth Amendment would permit otherwise. There's also a First Amendment issue -- demanding ID from public speakers and protesters can easily be a form of political intimidation. And a Fifth Amendment issue because it can potentially be self-incriminating to answer such questions -- the basis of the Miranda ruling. As odd as it might seen, police have a greater right to stop and frisk people (the Terry ruling in 1968) than to demand ID. So, if the cops stop you for no reason and ask for ID, I guess "Search me," might be an appropriate sarcastic response. Even if and when we are issued national ID cards, it would not be legal to require that we carry them at all times. Tell your friends. Spread the word. We still have basic freedoms here. Mostly. Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages: 408-904-7198 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
