8 - High Court Camouflage: How the Supreme Court Hides Police Aggression and Racial Animus

Summary

The Supreme Court mistakes submission for consent by constructing an alternative reality where police behave like the proverbial Officer Friendly. Court opinions direct judges to blame the victims of unconstitutional policing for submitting to police instead of exercising their rights. These fictions camouflage police aggression and racial profiling and allow it to thrive. Once we get rid of the consent doctrine, Terry v. Ohio must fall with it. The Supreme Court should review Terry’s balancing act, admit that the case was based on the false premise that people can choose not to cooperate, and this time include what we now know about the harms that flow from stop-and-frisk. Instead, the Supreme Court blew the chance in 2016 in Utah v. Strieff. Instead of overturning Terry, the Court expanded the government’s authority to control our liberty and our bodies. Because we can’t look to the courts to fix this, it’s more important than ever that readers recognize that stop-and-frisk leads the way in sapping constitutional rights. Legislators and progressive prosecutors, with the support of the public, can effectively abolish the “consent” excuse for violating the Constitution and end stop-and-frisk as we know it.