Lawsuit to Strike Down DC’s Checkpoint Program

[defendandprotect]

Source: Patnership for Civil Justice

Partnership for Civil Justice Files Lawsuit to Strike Down DC’s Checkpoint Program

Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Constitutionality of Stops and Data Collection


The Partnership for Civil Justice, a Washington DC-based public interest law firm, filed a class action lawsuit today in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking an injunction against the Metropolitan Police Department’s Neighborhood Safety Zone checkpoint program.

The lawsuit asserts that the roadblock program instituted in recent weeks is an unconstitutional suspicionless seizure of persons traveling on public roadways in the District of Columbia. The lawsuit also challenges the District’s use of these mass civil rights violations to collect and aggregate data on the movements, activities and associations of law abiding residents and visitors to the District and seeks expungement of this information.

The checkpoints are an extraordinary expansion of police power to stop, seize and interrogate individuals without any probable cause or suspicion of illegal activity. They are also ineffective at stopping crime.

“People want their children to be able to walk the streets in their neighborhood in a safe and secure environment. The District’s military-style roadblock system was deployed, in part, to give the appearance that the government is addressing this deeply felt need. But it is neither constitutional, nor effective. There is an urgent need to tackle the problems of violence, street crime, unemployment and education. This roadblock does not address any of them,” states the Class Action Complaint.


Read more: http://www.justiceonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=DC_checkpoints

[flashl]

1. K/R nt

[alstephenson]

2. k & r

[aspergris]

3. Good

First Heller, now this.

DC is not a constitution free-zone.

[Dogtown]

4. A totally unacceptable abuse of power

and massive violation of civil rights.

[Trillo]

5. Nice.

It's no longer a "free" country when you cannot come and go peacefully without the cops' permission.

[ohio2007]

6. Has Brian Beutler sounded off about this issue on his blog ?

Well Known Liberal Blogger Brian Beutler Shot In Washington, D.C.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3379526&mesg_id=3379526

Still don't know if the bar he was shot at was in the same "No Go" zoone the mayor of DC is concerned about.

http://www.brianbeutler.com/

No blog updates in almost two months. His blogger buds havn't linked up about that as a current issue but they do have interesting posts;

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

[defendandprotect]

7. We have surveillance, checkpoints, fatherland . . . what next "disappearances" . .. ???

[flashl]

8. We have/had disappearances. Stories exist about about homeless, day workers, etc.

disappearing into the South on farms and bus loads of homeless and undesirables shipped from large urban areas to Oregon on farms.

BTW, the #1 FBI missing person is a black male.

[defendandprotect]

9. ....don't recall seeing anything on that . . .

on the other hand, I've been looking at a newspaper for about 6 months that has nice

cartoons. Sometimes it just gets to be tooo much!

I discontinued the NY Times after the took on Karl Rove ...

but, we're going to have to subscribe again -- my husband is really complaining.

[EFerrari]

10. We already have round ups and renditions to secret prisions.

:shrug: