America is becoming unrecognizable. The landscape is still familiar; the flag looks the same. But it is a changed placed.

And some places are more changed than others.

In New Jersey, the state Supreme Court has just ruled that a cop can search your vehicle if you are pulled over for any reason – and without a warrant.

A defective turn signal, for instance.

Or a seatbelt “violation.” Against the State: An ... Rockwell Jr., Llewelly... Best Price: $5.02 Buy New $5.52 (as of 11:35 UTC - Details)

Basically, the NJ court has ruled that once a cop turns on his emergency lights, your Fourth Amendment rights have been forfeited.

It used to be (and still is, in other states) that more in the way of evidence or at least, “reasonable suspicion” that the car’s driver or occupants had done something else(besides the alleged traffic infraction) was necessary before the cop could – legally – search the vehicle.

Not buckling up for “safety,” for instance, was insufficient, by itself, to legally justify searching either the driver or his vehicle.

The cop needed a warrant.

Police State: How Amer... Spence, Gerry Best Price: $1.60 Buy New $18.26 (as of 01:30 UTC - Details) “I do not consent to any searches.”

“Am I free to go?”

Not anymore.

It used to be that the cop was empowered to check the driver’s papers (license, registration, proof of insurance) but – absent some additional grounds for suspicion – that was as far as he could take it.

Which of course frustrates cops – who view any restriction of their power over us as an intolerable affront.

The NJ ruling (5-2 in favor) affirms this viewpoint.    

Battlefield America: T... John W. Whitehead Best Price: $10.95 Buy New $18.80 (as of 10:15 UTC - Details) Keep in mind that there is almost no legal impediment standing in the way of a cop lighting up his flashers and pulling you over. You were (he will later say) driving “erratically.” Your headlights are “too bright.” The tint of your windows “too dark.” The cop says you tossed a cigarette butt out of the window. Gave him a hard stare. Didn’t stare.

And so on.

It can be almost anything – which means, it can be nothing at all.

What prevents a cop from pulling you over at whim? Is there any circumstance, any mechanism, anything at all that a motorist has in the way of immunity from being pulled over at random? There is none such. The cop turns on his lights, you are required to pull over.

And now – in NJ – you’re required to submit to a search, too.

A Government of Wolves... John W. Whitehead Best Price: $1.16 Buy New $2.99 (as of 10:15 UTC - Details) Of a piece with TSA searches, which are also random and arbitrary, requiring nothing more than a TSA cretin’s decision to single you out. Frown at the blue-suited clown and it is sufficient warrant to proceed without a warrant.

Don’t forget that even driving the speed limit is now grounds for a pull-over. Cops take the position that this is “suspicious” behavior because – after all – everyone speeds. If you’re not speeding, then – clearly – you must be trying to hide something. 

And then, if you’re “too polite” once actually pulled over… well, that’s “suspicious” as well.

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