SCALIA SCOLDS SCOTUS FOR DNA DECISION: Charles Ware's Judicial Update

U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia has launched a blistering dissent against his colleagues on the bench over their 5 to 4 decision that the police may take DNA samples from people arrested in connection with serious crimes.

The law at issue is the Maryland DNA Collection Act (Act), and the case in question in the Supreme Court's ruling on Monday, June 3rd, 2013 is State of Maryland v. Alonzo Jay King, 569 U.S.___(2013); No. 12-207.

Justice Antonin Scalia summarized his dissent from the bench, a rare move signaling deep disagreement. He accused the majority of an unsuccessful sleight of hand, one that “taxes the credulity of the credulous.” The point of DNA testing as it is actually practiced, he said, is to solve cold cases, not to identify the suspect in custody.
      

But the Fourth Amendment forbids searches without reasonable suspicion to gather evidence about an unrelated crime, he said, a point the majority did not dispute. “Make no mistake about it: because of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason,” Justice Scalia said from the bench.

 

[District Attorney's Office for Third Judicial District v. Osborne, 557 U.S. 52 (2009); Maryland DNA Collection Act, Md. Pub. Saf. Code Ann. §2-504 (Lexis 2011); Winston v. Lee, 470 U.S. 753 (1985); Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757 (1966); Cupp v. Murphy, 412 U.S. 291 (1973); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), Missouri v. McNeely, 509 U.S. ___ (2013); Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn., 489 U.S. 602 (1989); Veronica School Dist. 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995); United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543 (1976); Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325 (1990); Samson v. California, 547 U.S. 843 (2006); Treasury Employees v. Von Raab, 489 U.S. 656 (1989); Wyoming v. Houghton, 526 U.S. 295 (1999); Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103 (1975); Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961); United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218 (1973); Michigan v. DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31 (1979)]

 

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