Ahhh, the Bush Legacy Continues

So just when things were looking good for fans of small government, we get a reminder that America's biggest fan of big government left us with a parting gift.

The Supreme Court today handed down a unanimous decision stating that police officers have the unfettered right to search you at any time, for any reason, and what they find can be used against you as evidence.

That's right folks, 9-0 against the Fourth Amendment. At some point, I'm going to have to accept that I'm just not very bright because I just don't see how that ruling is possible. Here's the Fourth Amendment again,

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Maybe I suffer from some extreme form of obtuseitude, but I just don't see anywhere in the Fourth that backs up the Justices opinion. Maybe the H-Blog's reader (Hi Ma!) can shed some light on this for me.

Say's Ginsburg,

The pat-down is allowed if the police "harbor reasonable suspicion that a person subjected to the frisk is armed, and therefore dangerous to the safety of the police and public."

But what is the standard of "reasonable suspicion?" If a police officer is wrong three times in a row, does he lose his "reasonable suspicion" license? What if they don't find a gun but find the Mary J? What's the check on this power?

But more importantly, I thought Roberts and Alito were supposed to be "strict constructionists." How, how can anyone viewed as a "strict constructionist" stand by and allow this ruling to go forward? Forget Scalia. He's everybit a Constitutional purist as Ginsburg. He just has better rhetoric.

Nope, Robert and Alito are relativists in the same vein as W. Codes are good when they're easy, and bad when they ask us do things we don't agree with. Moral relativism is the mantra of the Bush years, and his court pics reflect that position exaclty.