Court right to ban roadblocks

The decision by the Supreme Court to block law enforcement officials from using random roadblocks to search for drugs is in alignment with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, making the verdict the right one.\nWhile the argument can be made that randomly searching cars is an effective way to limit the transportation of illegal substances, the use of this technique by police violates the rights of citizens to be protected from random searches and seizures of their property.\nWhile an officer has every right to arrest an intoxicated driver, simply driving down the road is not probable cause for an officer to search a vehicle. The use of dogs to sniff around a car is even more embarrassing, as if law enforcement officials expect people to believe their cars are not being searched.\nWhatever means are used, it leads to the same end result. Some of the drivers caught in these roadblocks might be violating the law, but one of our most precious freedoms is the right to peacefully go about our business without worry that law enforcement officials might detain us without probable cause.\nIn addition, racial profiling is a problem. Even if law enforcement officials abide by whatever number of vehicles they dictate they will search, the neighborhood they choose to search often brings up questions about racial profiling, particularly in African-American communities.\nThe Supreme Court's decision to declare the unconstitutionality of these police actions reverses an alarming trend during the past 12 years. Throughout the 1990s, the Court took many steps in limiting the Fourth Amendment.\nThis decision reverses the alarming trend of Court rulings that, among others, ruled that Treasury Department employees could be subjected to drug tests and that high school students playing team sports could be tested.\nDespite its anti-Fourth Amendment decisions in the past decade, the Supreme Court was right in declaring the illegality of the actions of law enforcement officials in this case. Without the ability to peacefully drive down the road without fear of random searches of one's possessions, one of the most basic freedoms of this country's citizens is brutally violated.