The Chris Moeller Archives

Fourth Amendment affirmed

Quote of the day: Chief Judge Alex Kozinsky of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals writing in support of the panel's (9 to 2) ruling Wednesday that federal prosecutors improperly seized the drug tests for 104 baseball players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, "This was an obvious case of deliberate overreaching by the government in an effort to seize data as to which it lacked probable cause... The risk to the players associated with disclosure, and with that the ability of the Players Association to obtain voluntary drug testing from its members in the future, is very high. Indeed, some players appear to have already suffered this very harm as a result of the government's seizure."

Reaction quotes to the Quote of the day:

Players association attorney Elliot Peters, "The leaks were crimes. The people who committed the crimes should be investigated and punished... If the government hadn't unconstitutionally seized this in the first place, there wouldn't have been any leaks."

Player representative Adam Wainwright, "Leak the names that leaked the names. People are obviously breaking the law acquiring those names, and it's not the agreement the federal government had with baseball. Those names were court-sealed. For crying out loud, you can't release them, period."

Barring an option for a final appeal by prosecutors to the U.S. Supreme Court, the seized drug test results and samples will be destroyed. It will all be hearsay and unsubstantiated rumor after that.

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Only good words in this corner of the web in regards to Edward Kennedy. He was a driving force behind the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) and Children's Health Insurance (CHIP) Programs. He was an early supporter of HIV/AIDS research and care, and was one of only 14 Senators to oppose the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. He opposed the war on Vietnam, and was one of only 23 Senators to vote against the war on Iraq. He championed public health insurance (beginning all the way back in 1969) and countless other programs to fight poverty. His immigration bill in 1965 eliminated discriminatory quotas. It was his amendment to the Voting Rights Act of '65 that lowered the voting age to 18. The greatest aspect of his legacy is that it's a legacy left to all of the people of America, not just to the citizens of Massachusetts. He was never in government to bring home the pork, and despite his family privilege, working-class Americans could put their trust in him.

Let's give it up for the state constitution of Massachusetts also. In the Bay State, there's no such thing as an interim appointment to fill a vacant Senate seat like the one left by Kennedy. A special election instead must be held within 145-160 days.

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PREPOSTEROUS AGE DISCRIMINATION: The new Missouri law that bans phone texting by drivers under 21. I hope their state supreme court sees fit to overturn it. As the story indicates, 22 other states have bans or limits on texting while driving, but only Missouri has chosen to target young people exclusively. If young people are too inexperienced to know not to text while driving, then older, experienced drivers must be too stupid not to recognize the danger. Which is worse? If anything, young people should be the ones allowed to keep the privilege as they're generally more skilled and experienced in their texting.

posted by CM @ 7:50 PM