Automatic Plate Readers

[jks9199]

More importantly, you can't cherry pick sentences out of a legal decision. Miranda v Arizona, for example is something like 30 or 40 pages long, as I recall. Without looking at the text of the ruling you cannot know what is being said. Additionally, many of the quotes above are unsourced; that makes hard to evaluate what they may actually be saying. (Consider, you could cherry pick the last line of my post above about ownership rights in your license to support that you have a right to a license -- which is not the message of the post.)

The bottom line is that NO court of the United States has held that you have a right to drive upon the highways without complying with the rules, regulations, and laws that are appropriately established by that state to obtain the privilege to do so. That's it. You don't believe it, tell you what. We can make arrangements for you to drive, without being issued a driver's license, and meet up with an officer who will happily cite you for the offense. As long it's within his authority to do so -- you'll be released then and there, but will have to come to court. Where you can try your quotes on a judge. Once you're convicted, you can appeal -- and try them on a new judge. You may then attempt to appeal your conviction all the way to the US Supreme Court, assuming that each appellate court grants certiorari all the way up the chain. (I rather doubt that your appeals will go beyond the first court of record... It's a rather well settled issue.)

 

[Cryozombie]

Not to derail the argument here...

But in case everyone still thinks driving is a privilege... the supreme court did rule in Bell vs BurSon that a Drivers License cannot be revoked without due process... here is a quote from the Law Offices of Lawrence Taylor Website

The U.S. Supreme Court changed that, recognizing that a license's "continued possession may become essential in the pursuit of a livelihood". Because of their value, then, they "are not to be taken away without that procedural due process required by the Fourteenth Amendment".

Dunno if that makes them a right... but I'd argue that suspending them while awaiting trial (as has happened recently to my roommate) is apparently in Violation of the 14th amendment as put forth by that decision.

*shrug*

 

[jks9199]

Not to derail the argument here...

But in case everyone still thinks driving is a privilege... the supreme court did rule in Bell vs BurSon that a Drivers License cannot be revoked without due process... here is a quote from the Law Offices of Lawrence Taylor Website



Dunno if that makes them a right... but I'd argue that suspending them while awaiting trial (as has happened recently to my roommate) is apparently in Violation of the 14th amendment as put forth by that decision.

*shrug*

It doesn't make it a right; the ruling says you have certain ownership rights in the license, once granted.

I know, it sounds like I'm splitting hairs -- but they're important hairs in a legal discussion.

Once the government grants you any sort of license, it can't arbitrarily take it away, without some form of due process as required by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution. The license can be seen as a form of property... but it's not the same as saying that getting the license in the first place is a right. This is why many states can, legally and constitutionally, suspend your driver's license administratively when you're arrested for DUI; it's an administrative suspension, not a punishment. The license is suspended as a function of law, and you can see those criteria if you read the laws. For example, HERE is Virginia's.

 

[MJS]

To expand a bit, from my point of view, on what Archangel said above regarding statutory rights to drive...I look at it like this....sure, we have a right to drive, however, there are rules that we must follow, despite what anyone thinks of the govt, and fact of the matter is, if they're not followed, you lose those rights, plain and simple. If you drive drunk, you will be arrested and will lose your DL for a period of time, if you don't follow the driving laws, you will be pulled over, despite what you think of the govt., if you don't pay your parking tickets, such as in that show that I mentioned in another post, you're car may get a boot put on it, or even towed, and you will have to pay a fine to get it back, as well as the tickets that're outstanding.

Bottom line.....there are rules, like it or not. If you don't follow them, you'll most likely pay a price down the road. If you dont like it, move to some island in the middle of nowhere, where you can be your own boss, your own govt, and run things as you choose. But until then, suck it up and deal!