Liberty and Justice for All Drivers

[DetroitDad]

Unfortunately, driving is a necessity for most areas in a Metro with no real transit.

[mjs]

Why is there a common misconception that driving is a privilege? Dozens of US Supreme Court decision specifically refute that claim. The right to travel is part of the rights of liberty protected by the Fifth Amendment. Just because the right can be taken away after Due Process has been exerted, doesn't transform it into a privilege. If it did, then sleeping anywhere other than a prison could be considered a privilege.

Once one sees though this misconception and honors the founder's belief that government is an agreement of the governed, one undestands why government shouldn't inspect vehicles without good cause.

[Blarf]

Why is there a common misconception that driving is a privilege? Dozens of US Supreme Court decision specifically refute that claim. The right to travel is part of the rights of liberty protected by the Fifth Amendment.

Huh?

Are you joking or are you actually being serious?

[Locke09]

"Personal liberty largely consists of the Right of locomotion -- to go where and when one pleases -- only so far restrained as the Rights of others may make it necessary for the welfare of all other citizens. The Right of the Citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, by horse drawn carriage, wagon, or automobile, is not a mere privilege which may be permitted or prohibited at will, but the common Right which he has under his Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Under this Constitutional guarantee one may, therefore, under normal conditions, travel at his inclination along the public highways or in public places, and while conducting himself in an orderly and decent manner, neither interfering with nor disturbing another's Rights, he will be protected, not only in his person, but in his safe conduct." [Emphasis added] II Am.Jur. [[1st) Constitutional Law, Sect.329, p.1135.

There is other case law agreeing that it is a right for the private citizen, but there is also case law saying it is not a right, but a privilege when used to conduct business.

For the private citizen then, driving seems to be a right that is regulated so that individuals do not infringe upon the rights of others or create hazardous conditions as they are driving.

[MrJones]

As a fan of the show Cops, and a supporter of cops in general, it's always bothered me how they roll up on someone sitting in their car in a high crime area and proceed to search them. Many times they find contraband, but still, I believe that sort of thing was SPECIFICALLY prohibited by the founders as an unreasonable search.

While I'm venting, I also dislike how they set up prostitution stings. No, I would never be involved in that. It just seems chicken s**t to me to arrest the guys because they can't keep prostitutes, the ones the crime is named after, in jail.

[ccbatson]

It is a privilege as rights do not have an age requirement, vision, and other neurologic parameters, and testing.

[ejames01]

So Toddlers have the right to bear arms?


GTFOOH

It is a privilege as rights do not have an age requirement, vision, and other neurologic parameters, and testing.

[mjs]

In regards the contention that if one hasn't done anything wrong they'll have nothing to worry about, there's also the rights to privacy and dissension. Suppose an officer could stop and inspect vehicles at at will and one had voiced disagreement with a Bush policy or the relationship between a City Council member and a contractor, what would prevent the individuals in charge from using officers to punish and undermine their opposition by rummaging through their plans and embarrassing them by revealing legal, but private items found in the vehicle?