Wednesday, April 4, 2012

GOP Five Like Stripping Americans

The Supreme Court has authorized the police to
conduct strip searches after any arrest.
(photo: Ken Light)
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
03 April 12

ast week, the five Republican partisans who control the U.S. Supreme Court were all about protecting American "liberties" against the threat of compulsory broccoli purchases. This week, they are defending the rights of prison guards to strip search a nun arrested in an anti-war protest or a black guy who got nabbed by mistake for not paying a fine that he had actually paid.

But the Court's strip-search ruling on Monday was more about the future than the past. One could almost see the GOP Five rubbing their hands together at the prospect of mass strip searches of young men and women arrested for challenging corporate greed in Occupy protests. Perhaps the justices would like to take a page from Rush Limbaugh's playbook and suggest the videos be posted online so they could watch.
"Every detainee who will be admitted to the general population may be required to undergo a close visual inspection while undressed," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the Republican majority.

Of course, the justices don't expect that they and their powerful friends would ever be subjected to such humiliation. That's more for the lesser beings - or those with lesser money - especially those who find themselves disproportionately tossed into America's massive prison system: the poor, the minorities and the protesters.  READ MORE

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