Has Scalia Gone Soft On Us?

The man who never met a warrantless search he didn't like, apparently has met one. In a decision that surprised the heck out of the staff at OVC, the United States Supreme Court scored a point for individual rights. But what was more surprising than the outcome, was the list of "unusual suspects" in the majority and dissenting opinions.

Arch conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas joined the majority in an opinion written by 89 year old liberal John Paul Stevens. The case concerned the warrantless search of an automobile by police when they have a person in custody in a police car. The court decided that such a search without a warrant was unconstitutional.

We will post a more detailed analysis at a future date, but what we found very intriguing in this perplexing decision was the concurring opinion of Scalia where he calls for the overruling of all automobile searches involving the "charade of officer safety." There may be hope for Antonin yet.