By John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
You think you’ve got rights? Think again.
All of those freedoms we cherish, the ones enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, the ones that affirm our right to free speech and assembly, due process, privacy, bodily integrity, the right to not have police seize our property without a warrant, or search and detain us without probable cause, amount to nothing when the government and its agents are allowed to disregard those prohibitions on government overreach at will.
It is the grim reality of life in the American police state.
In fact, in the face of the government’s ongoing power grabs, our so-called rights have been reduced to mere technicalities, privileges that can be granted and taken away, all with the general blessing of the courts.
It is what one would call a slow death by a thousand cuts, only it’s the Constitution being inexorably bled to death by the very institution, the judicial branch of government, that is supposed to be protecting it (and us) from government abuse.
Court pundits, fixated on a handful of politically charged cases before the U.S. Supreme Court this term dealing with abortion, gun rights, and COVID-19 mandates, have failed to recognize that the Supreme Court, and the courts in general, sold us out long ago.
With each passing day, it becomes increasingly clear that Americans no longer can rely on the courts to “take the government off the backs of the people,” in the words of the late Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.
Too often, the Supreme Court tends to march in lockstep with the police state.
As a result, the police and other government agents have been generally empowered to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip, and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance.
The cases the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear, allowing lower court judgments to stand, are almost as critical as the ones they rule on. Some of these cases have delivered devastating blows to the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
By remaining silent, the Court has affirmed that: Legally owning a firearm is enough to justify a no-knock raid by police; the military can arrest and detain American citizens; students can be subjected to random lockdowns and mass searches at school; police officers who don’t know their actions violate the law aren’t guilty of breaking the law; trouble understanding police orders constitutes resistance that justifies the use of excessive force; and the areas immediately adjacent to one’s apartment can be subjected to warrantless police surveillance and arrests.
Make no mistake about it: When such instances of abuse are continually validated by a judicial system that kowtows to every police demand, no matter how unjust, no matter how in opposition to the U..S. Constitution, one only can conclude that the system is rigged.
Indeed, a review of critical court rulings over the past several decades, including rulings affirming qualified immunity protections for government agents by the U.S. Supreme Court, reveals a startling and steady trend towards pro-police state rulings by an institution concerned more with establishing order, protecting the ruling class, and insulating government agents from charges of wrongdoing than with upholding the rights enshrined in the Constitution.
Reuters reports, qualified immunity “has become a nearly fail-safe tool to let police brutality go unpunished and deny victims their constitutional rights.”
For those in need of a reminder of all the ways in which the Supreme Court has made us sitting ducks at the mercy of the American police state, let me offer the following.
As a result of court rulings in recent years, police can claim qualified immunity for warrantless searches. Police can claim qualified immunity for warrantless arrests based on mere suspicion. Police can claim qualified immunity for using excessive force against protesters. Police can claim qualified immunity for shooting a fleeing suspect in the back. Police can claim qualified immunity for shooting a mentally-impaired person. Police officers can use lethal force in car chases without fear of lawsuits. Police can stop, arrest, and search citizens without reasonable suspicion, or probable cause. Police officers can stop cars based on anonymous tips or for suspicious behavior such as having a reclined car seat or driving too carefully. Police can forcibly take your DNA, whether or not you’ve been convicted of a crime. Police can use the fear-for-my-life rationale as an excuse for shooting unarmed individuals. Police have free reign to use drug-sniffing dogs as search warrants on leashes.
Police can subject Americans to strip searches, no matter the offense. Police can break into homes without a warrant, even if it’s the wrong home. Police can use knock-and-talk tactics as a means of sidestepping the Fourth Amendment. Police can carry out no-knock raids if they believe announcing themselves would be dangerous. Police can recklessly can open fire on anyone that might be armed. Police can destroy a home during a SWAT raid, even if the owner gives consent to enter and search it. Police can suffocate someone, deliberately or inadvertently, in the process of subduing them.
To sum it up, we are dealing with a nationwide epidemic of court-sanctioned police violence carried out with impunity against individuals posing little or no real threat.
So where does that leave us?
For those deluded enough to believe that they’re living the American dream, where the government represents the people, where the people are equal in the eyes of the law, where the courts are arbiters of justice, where the police are keepers of the peace, and where the law is applied equally as a means of protecting the rights of the people, it’s time to wake up.
For too many, I make clear in my book, “Battlefield America: The War on the American People” and in its fictional counterpart “The Erik Blair Diaries”, the American dream of freedom and justice for all has turned into a living nightmare.
Given the turbulence of our age, with its government overreach, military training drills on American soil, domestic surveillance, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, wrongful convictions, profit-driven prisons, corporate corruption, COVID mandates, and community-wide lockdowns, the need for a guardian of the people’s rights never has been greater.
—The Rutherford Institute