European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 9, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday july 9, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Tom Wicker court s Limp Tough Luck answer does t sell Are you a reasonable Law abiding person if so what would you do if you were an innocent passenger on a bus stopped by the police on some Remote Highway or Back Street and armed officers began to search All those aboard Justice Sandra Day of Connor has no doubt that you would not hesitate to a terminate the encounter a that is to Tell the officers they had no right and no reason to search your person so you wont submit. Done to try it in real life and in certain states or cities if you value your head. But on that remarkable supposition Justice of Connor and five other Rehnquist court justices struck Down a Florida court ruling that such searches in such circumstances were a inherently coercive a hence unconstitutional. It is possible you could be imprisoned for Drunken driving or your child could be convicted of possessing drugs and sent to the Slammer such things have happened and will again to lots of Ordinary americans. You or your child suddenly can have Only one Shower a week must share a Small cell with three others can to eat patently inedible food and have to live in terror of an armed rapist. So you bring suit against these dehumanizing probably unconstitutional prison conditions. Justice Antonin Scalia and four other Rehnquist reliable ruled that your suit should be thrown out of court if you can to prove what would be All but impossible to prove a that these sufferings were inflicted on you or your offspring because of the a deliberate indifference of prison officials. You May argue that it makes Little difference to an inmate whether the Warden is deliberately indifferent or just has no funds or authority to provide constitutional custodial conditions. The Rehnquist court says a Tough  maybe you Are convicted in a state court of a crime you did no to commit believe it or not that happens to everyday americans and frequently. Of course your lawyer appeals. But through sloth misunderstanding or ineptitude he or she does no to properly follow the states appellate rules. _ again Tough Luck even if you could prove your innocence. Justice of Connor wrote for six consenting justices that you Are not entitled to even one Hareas Corpus Appeal in the Federal Walter r. Mears courts. In the actual Case decided lawyers were one Day late in filing an Appeal ill a Virginia court for a death Row inmate whose Hareas Corpus petition was therefore not accepted in Federal court and who May be executed owing to the late filing. Suppose you confessed to a crime Only because policemen beat the daylights out of you and if you think no Law officer would do a thing like that ask Rodney King of los Angeles. Its a a coerced confession a however and until this term of the Rehnquist court you  be imprisoned or executed if you could show you had been Given rubber Hose treatment. No More chief Justice Rehnquist himself for four Legal accomplices wrote that a coerced confession was Only a harmless error if there were enough other evidence to convict you. Sound reasonable not if you know How determined police can Hoke up evidence How some prosecutors want convictions at any Cost the incompetence of Many defense attorneys and the credulity of juries in accepting evidence that May ply appear persuasive. That decision removed moreover one of the most effective deterrents to police beatings police Are less Likely to rely on the Truncheon if it invalidates their Case. What a More Likely is that you May be arrested without a warrant by mistake or in a police sweep and thrown into jail. Until the Rehnquist court pondered the matter you had to be charged or released a promptly a within 24 hours in most jurisdictions. A. In a Case decided 5-4, however Justice of Connor wrote a ruling allowing you to be held for 48 hours innocent or not without being charged Ltd two Days and nights probably in a tank with drunks prostitutes drug addicts and pushers maybe a murderer or a rapist. In these and other decisions supposedly affecting Only the rights of the accused or of prisoners a who cares about either a the Rehnquist court followed the election returns that show most americans fervent desire to get Tough on crime. Such americans Are Likely to find out that these rulings actually make it easier to get Tough on them. And that a not harmless error. C the new York times Quot in accordance with our belief that a person is int6rnep until proven guilty a liberals take up conservatives old Battle cry for a generation conservatives complained and campaigned against an assertive activist supreme court a and now they have their own. As a result. Congress will be dealing with a growing Agenda of measures to undo what the court has wrought. In the new judicial order the activists Are conservatives because it takes a decision to change a decision. The last of the courts liberals retiring from the Bench accuses the new majority of Radical decisions. It is a role reversal that will be reflected. Irlma ional politics for a Long time to come As a narrow conservative majority widens on a court where All but one of the nine justices was nominated by a Republican president. In an earlier Era issues that became causes that mobilized the Republican right flowed from such decisions As the courts guarantee of abortion rights and its ruling against prayer in the Public schools. Law and order was a durable gop Issue one of Richard m. Nixon a themes was that the court had gone too far in weakening the police against criminals. Now the criminal Justice rulings Are going the other Way and it is liberals who argue that the court is going too far. A childhood memory recounted by Clarence Thomas president Bush a nominee to succeed retiring Justice Thurgood Marshall dramatizes the change. A a. My most vivid childhood memory of the supreme court was of the a impeach Earl Warrens signs which lined Highway 17 near Savannah a said Thomas 43, a Black appeals court judge a conservative nominated to replace the courts leading Liberal. A i did no to quite understand who this Earl Warren fellow was but 1 knew he was in some kind of  Warren retired As chief Justice in 1969 after 16 years during which his name became a Symbol of supreme a court activism Amla target of the political right. Since the Era of the Warren court a Republican eafflpa4gnlitany-ha�s been a a a Promise to choose justices who would strictly interpret the Constitution. It was with Bush As he repeated during mondays announcement of the Thomas nomination. A a. The main consideration in addition to excellence and qualification is this concept of interpreting the Constitution and not legislating from the Federal Bench a the president said. But to liberals and even to some republicans court decisions that rewrite what earlier decisions have done amount to the same thing settling questions of Public policy As a sort of super legislature. And now it is the liberals who urge restraint and reverence for precedent. In his final dissent. Marshall said the conservative majority was acting radically by discarding precedents in order to permit the use of evidence about victims and their families in murder sentencing. A Power not reason is the new currency of this courts decision making a Marshall protested. A a. The majority sends a Clear signal that essentially All decisions implementing the personal liberties protected by the Bill of rights and the ,14th amendment Are open to re examination Quot he said. Two of Tolfe Ina or controversies now before Congress Stem from court decisions. One is a civil rights Bill seeking to reverse six rulings by the court that make it More difficult for minorities and women to prove Job discrimination. The other is a House approved measure that would overrule the court and permit federally subsidized birth control clinics to counsel pregnant women about abortion. Both face the Bush veto threat the former on grounds that the democrats want legislation that would Lead to hiring quotas the latter As part of his Blanket threat to try to Block Prb-abo7tion legislation. When Marshall retired sen. Tim Wirth d-colo., told the Senate that the Prospect of an even More conservative court is a a Call to arms to Congress Quot to pass Laws enforcing rights that Arentt upheld from the Bench. A we must step in where the court has and will fail  he said. C the associated press