Supreme Court makes decision for individual liberty

Today in Arizona vs. Grant the SCOTUS ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not permit police to conduct a warrantless search of a car unless the search is immediately necessary to safeguard the arresting officer's safety or to prevent the concealment or destruction of evidence.

The decision means that police cannot rely on a mere traffic violation to authorize a general search for guns, drugs, or other contraband. Such searches created "a serious and recurring threat to the privacy of countless individuals," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the majority opinion.

"The character of that threat implicates the central concern underlying the Fourth Amendment – the concern about giving police officers unbridled discretion to rummage at will among a person's private effects."

So once you’re out of your car for a traffic violation, they have no reason to search your car as you can’t reach anything in it that could hurt them, and they have no probable cause to look for any other crime. The smart thing to do would be to exit your car with your registration and proof of insurance when stopped, and lock the car. If all they stopped you for is a traffic violation then anything they find in your car if searched it is not admissible in court.

Some may say this makes it harder on police. It may, but then the constitution limits the government not the people, it should be harder for them. The government shouldn’t be able to rummage through the private effects of a person without a warrant.