Illegal Search and Seizure

The meme here reminds me of an incident when my kids were young, and loved to have my wife and me take them to one of the many beaches along the Southern California coast.

Apparently, the particular spot on the sand we chose that day had a local statute that prohibited the possession of alcoholic beverages, and so many beach-goers brought opaque coolers to hide (and chill) their beer.

I watched a guy deal with a pair of armed policemen as they asked him, “May we look inside your cooler?”

He responded, “Of course.  I mean, you do have a warrant, right?”  When they admitted that they didn’t, the guy said, “Well, I’m sure you folks understand the U.S. Constitution, in particular the Fourth Amendment that prohibits illegal search and seizure.  If you come back with a warrant, I’ll happily open up my cooler.”

“Have a nice day,” one of the officers said, as they walked on to bust who knows how many Constitutionally-ignorant people.

For my wife and the kids, this was a teachable moment in the life of the Constitution–a document that actually used to mean something.