"NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge ruled on Friday that police had a constitutional right to randomly search passengers' bags on the New York City subway to deter terrorist attacks."
What about the forth Fourth Amendment?!?! "The right of the people to be secure...against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated."
But a RANDOM search has NO PROBABLE CAUSE. It is saying that it is possible for EVERYONE to be a terrorist. But that is just not what happens. If someone has been flagged as a possible terrorist because of past activities, or activities that they are participating in, then that would constitute probable cause, but having a blanket search for everyone who rides the subway is not only illegal but also ineffective. The chance of actually catching someone is small. There are about 470,000 searches that would have to take place to check everyone each day on the subway, and the NYPD has no where near enough man power. The efforts need to be focused in more productive areas that will help secure us more with the limited resources that we currently have.
(Update: Reuters link broken)
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