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Court:
No Right to Keep Names From Police
Supreme
Court Rules People Don't Have Constitutional Right to
Refuse to Give Police Their Names
The
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
June 21, 2004 —
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people do not have a
constitutional right to refuse to tell police their names.
The 5-4 decision frees the government to arrest and punish
people who won't cooperate by revealing their identity.
The decision was a defeat for privacy rights advocates who
argued that the government could use this power to force
people who have done nothing wrong to submit to
fingerprinting or divulge more personal information.
Police, meanwhile, had argued that identification requests
are a routine part of detective work, including efforts to
get information about terrorists.
The justices upheld a Nevada cattle rancher's misdemeanor
conviction. He was arrested after he told a deputy that he
didn't have to reveal his name or show an ID during an
encounter on a rural road in 2000.
Larry "Dudley" Hiibel was prosecuted, based on his silence
and fined $250. The Nevada Supreme Court sided with police
on a 4-3 vote.
Justices agreed in a unique ruling that addresses just
what's in a name.
The ruling was a follow up to a 1968 decision that said
police may briefly detain someone on reasonable suspicion
of wrongdoing, without the stronger standard of probable
cause, to get more information. Justices said that during
such brief detentions, known as Terry stops after the 1968
ruling, people must answer questions about their
identities.
Justices had been asked to rule that forcing someone to
give police their name violated a person's Fourth Amendment
protection from unreasonable searches and the Fifth
Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said
that that it violated neither.
"Obtaining
a suspect's name in the course of a Terry stop serves
important government interests," Kennedy wrote.
[notice his assumption of guilt, and government's interest!
- nalex]
The ruling left the door open for what Kennedy said would
be an unusual case in which revealing a name would be
incriminating. But he said generally, disclosing an
identity is "so insignificant in the scheme of things."
Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center, said America is different 36 years
after the Terry decision. "In a modern era, when the police
get your identification, they are getting an extraordinary
look at your private life."
He said the ruling for Nevada "opens the door to what could
become a routine fishing expedition among government
databases," after police stop innocent people.
The police encounter with Hiibel happened after someone
called police to report arguing between Hiibel and his
daughter in a truck. An officer asked him 11 times for his
identification or his name.
Over and over again Hiibel refused, at one point saying,
"If you've got something, take me to jail" and "I don't
want to talk. I've done nothing. I've broken no laws."
In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said that Hiibel
"acted well within his rights when he opted to stand mute."
Also disagreeing with the decision were Justices David H.
Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
Justices were told that 20 states have similar laws to the
Nevada statute upheld by the high court: Alabama, Arkansas,
California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas,
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire,
New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah,
Vermont, and Wisconsin.
The case is Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of the
state of Nevada, 03-5554.
On the Net:
Supreme Court:
The arrest video can be seen at this
site:
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