I’ve often made fun of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, because he deserved it. Well, today he deserves my praise, and the praise of every other American, for his brilliant defense of the Fourth Amendment, unfortunately in a dissent, protesting the Court’s decision to allow states to take DNA samples from anyone arrested for a crime, under the specious pretence of desiring certain identification of the arrestee (the justification for fingerprinting). Jeffrey Rosen of the New Republic does justice to Scalia’s arguments here, and you can read the full decision (Maryland v. King) here. The next time you get arrested for making a “furtive gesture” and end up with a cop shoving a cotton swab down your mouth, you can thank Justice Kennedy (and Chief Justice Roberts). As Scalia put it
“Perhaps the construction of such a genetic panopticon is wise. But I doubt that the proud men who wrote the charter of our liberties would have been so eager to open their mouths for royal inspection.”
