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During a legitimate traffic stop, police may order the driver and any passengers out of the vehicle. This rule is intended to protect officers' safety, but it's often used for investigatory purposes...
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Unfortunately, police may sometimes search you even if you refuse consent. If they find anything illegal, you'll have to get a lawyer and fight it out in court, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the search will hold up...
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Yes. Police can, will, and often do lie; especially if it helps them make arrests. The rules regarding entrapment usually tip in favor of law-enforcement, so police won't hesitate to trick you into incriminating yourself or others...
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No. We teach people that they have rights, and that these rights are secured by the principal documents that guarantee our civil liberties -- the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. An informed individual who invokes his constitutional protections is doing exactly what our nation's founders intended. They created these documents to...
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No. The Supreme Court has never ruled that police must present the warrant when performing a search. The purpose of the warrant is to...
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Simply put, the number of arrests an officer makes is a major factor used to determine his job performance. Police officers know that the easiest way to make arrests is to find people in possession of illegal drugs, so they want to search everyone they can find...
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Be aware that private security personnel outnumber police officers in the United States by three to one. As a result, you may be more likely to be confronted by a security guard than by a police officer. You must also be aware of the following places where security personnel (governmental or otherwise) are permitted to search you without a warrant...
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As a general rule, searches conducted without a valid search warrant signed by a judge violate the Fourth Amendment, but like most rules of law, there are a number of explicit exceptions. In fact, most searches occur without warrants because police take advantage of these exceptions to the Fourth Amendment...
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Your rights do not disappear if the officer threatens to call in the dogs, so don't let this all-too-common tactic intimidate you into consenting to a search. You have several options...
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No. The courts have made it clear that police officers do not have to tell people that they can refuse to consent to a warrantless search. Also, contrary to the belief perpetuated by popular police television shows, a person will not be read their rights subsequent to being taken into custody. A person only needs to be Mirandized when...
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College students suffer from an unfortunate lack of privacy rights in many situations. The university owns the dorm, so school officials can often search rooms at their own discretion. College students still have 4th Amendment rights that apply in other situations...
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No. We believe that most police officers are good, hardworking people who are doing a tough job. We need police to safeguard the life, liberty, and property of all people. To do this best, police officers should...
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Yes. Minors generally have the same rights as adults. For example, minors can refuse searches and decline to answer questions without an attorney present. Nevertheless, minors face unique challenges when attempting to exercise these rights...
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Everyone should be trained to assert their constitutional rights under the 4th Amendment in order to avoid the hassle and humiliation of police misconduct and illegal searches. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report on citizen-police contacts...
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In addition to compromising your safety and the safety of others, driving drunk is one of the stupidest things you can do, and one of the easiest ways to create overwhelming legal problems for yourself. DUI laws vary from state to state, and they have become increasingly harsh over the years...
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Over the past two weeks, we've been asking you to e-mail your legislators to oppose the anti-democratic voting legislation that, if passed, would strip rights away from Floridians. Now is your last chance to make your voice heard, we need you to call Senate President Jeff Atwater, Speaker of the House Larry Cretul and Governor Crist today.
Voting is a right, not a privilege, and we oppose legislation that makes it more difficult for people to vote and participate in our democracy. With your help, we can defeat this poisonous legislation. Please take three minutes of your day to make three key phone calls!
1. Senate President Jeff Atwater -- (850) 487-5229
2. Speaker of the House Larry Cretul -- (850) 488-1450 (Cretul is pronounced "kree-tle")
3. Governor Charlie Crist (850) 488-4441
Suggested Script: Hello, my name is (name) and I live in (city). I am calling in regards to legislation relating to voting and elections.
- CALL TO SENATOR ATWATER: "I urge President Atwater NOT to let SB 956, relating to voting and elections, go to the Senate floor. Thank you."
- CALL TO REP. CRETUL: "I urge Speaker Cretul NOT to let EDCA8, relating to voting elections, go to the House floor. Thank you."
- CALL TO GOV. CRIST: "I urge Governor Crist to express his opposition to SB 956 and EDCA8, relating to voting and elections. These bills are bad for Florida voters and bad for democracy. Thank you."
Below are the key reasons for why the ACLU opposes SB 956 and EDCA8. The proposed changes to Florida's voting and elections laws would:
- Expand the "no-solicitation zone," creating a constantly shifting zone that would be impossible to enforce and further restricts voters' ability to receive important nonpartisan voting rights information at the polling place;
- Further limit acceptable IDs, without proposing acceptable alternatives, preventing eligible citizens from registering to vote, and properly registered voters from exercising their right to vote;
- Force more voters to vote by provisional ballots, which have a higher rate of rejection;
- Increase the frequency of "list maintenance programs" causing more validly registered voters to be removed from the voter rolls;
- Extend the deadline for making accessible paper (marksense) ballots available for disabled Floridians, relegating voters with disabilities to four additional years of voting on second class touch screen voting systems;
- Impose unnecessary and onerous restrictions on third-party voter registration groups. This would have the direct effect of decreasing electoral participation by Floridians who are significantly more likely to register through these drives, especially eligible Black and Latino voters; and
- Impose unnecessary and onerous restrictions on groups that collect citizen petitions for ballot measures, making it harder for regular citizens as compared to well-financed corporate interests to get measures on the ballot.
Thank you for taking time to make your voice heard. We appreciate your continued support of the ACLU of Florida's work to defend civil liberties in the Sunshine State!
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What are we doing?
The 4th Amendment Podcast
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