Re:EFF's Fight to End Warrantless Device Searches at the Border
by Whitestrake on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @02:11AM
(#16272136)
> I never claimed a bad lane change is probable cause for a search.
Perhaps not in so many words...
tptacek states that a bad lane change can be given as an excuse for a stop, but not a search, because it is not probable cause. In the following comment, you reject that claim:
> Bad lane change is explicitly probable cause -- it's direct witnessing of a traffic code violation.
A reasonable interpretation of your comment would be an argument that a bad lane change is probable cause for a search. It makes no sense to differentiate "probable cause for a stop", because there is either no such test, or it should otherwise be the same standard as for a search.
On the other hand, I don't think tptacek has tried to give any advice as to whether a person should be worried about this or not.
I don't think talking about roadside detention is moving the goal posts at all -- it's an abrogation of the fourth amendment allowed within 100 miles of the border, and has knock-on effects that make searching easier.
I agree that the way the ACLU characterizes the rulings are wrong, and said as much in a parenthetical. But that's not the same as "thus we shouldn't be worried about the fourth amendment being ignored within 100 miles of the border".