Across the nation, many of the larger U.S. cities have significant populations of the homeless. When homeless persons congregate in specific areas, in camps, local authorities often push back with the execution of clearing sweeps.

This occurred a few years ago in Ann Arbor in a camp known as "Camp Take Notice". Slab City California is another example of a collision between homeless persons with little property and state actors.

In these encampment sweeps, personal property of the homeless is removed to aid the reclamation and gentrification process. More often than not, the sweeps -a form of state action- go too far, too fast.

Over the years, the encampment sweeps by local governments have led to a series of constitutional challenges courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal aid lawyers. The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that anti-camping ordinances cannot criminalize persons for being homeless.

In one of the encampment lawsuits, a federal judge in Seattle ruled last Friday that the property of homeless persons was removed by Clark County officials without a determination as to whether the property was abandoned or "owned" by the homeless.

The property taken included broken furniture, backpacks, medication, clothing, various documents and photographs. A leather basketball can be seen in the above photo, taken in March beneath I-90 in Clark County, near Vancouver. When homeless, such implements can be vital to your survival.

In relevant part, the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that, "[n]o person shall be ...deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Although not valuable, the property of the homeless was taken in Clark County without notice or any compensation, let alone just compensation.

Trial is scheduled for early October to determine the value of the property taken by the state actors in Washington. Settlement discussions continue between the former campers, their legal aid attorneys, and Clark County.

Stay tuned as the case could have local impact wherever municipalities attempt to outlaw camping via local ordinance. We will keep you posted.

Post #558

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The Old Lion's Autobiography

He walked away from the University of Michigan Law School after his first year, declaring formal education a "waste of time".  At the height of his game in the mid-1920s, he was the first trial lawyer in America to weave his client's interests through the available media, and thus into our societal fabric.

Darrow is perhaps best remembered for defending the teen-aged murderers in the Chicago case known as Leopold and Loeb.  The accused boys, wealthy pampered law students, received life prison sentences, narrowly avoiding a death sentence. 

And of course, Darrow successfully defended teacher John T. Scopes, accused of teaching evolution in a Tenessee public school.  His opposing counsel, prosecutor William Jennings Bryant, arrogantly took the witness stand in defense of a literal interpretation of the Bible.  Darrow is considered to have disgraced Bryant during his cross examination.

The Old Lion, as he was known, was one of the left's radical champions.  He played a significant role in the development of the American Civil Liberties Union.  He was well-suited for his time.

A new biography of Darrow by Andrew Kersten [University of Wisconsin, Green Bay], American Iconoclast, has revived interest in the lawyer and his momentus cases.   As the "go-to" trial lawyer of his day, Darrow made numerous enemies on both the left and the right.  Salon takes note of Darrow's eventual tendency to go where the biggest fees were paid.

Local connection:  In early September 1925, Dr. Ossian Sweet moved into a home with his family on Garland in Detroit; a neighborhood then known as "Black Bottom".  Often, black families that moved on streets with white families would get attacked.  In October 1925, a white lynch mob was thwarted by Dr. Ossian and some members of his family, resulting in the death of one of the assailants.

Now charged with murder, Dr. Ossian reached out through the NAACP to hire Darrow.  Judge Frank Murphy presided over the trial, during which Darrow gave a closing argument that lasted over seven hours.  Ossian was acquitted.

Assessing Darrow's colorful career, in all its hues, provides an opportunity to compare the outrages of his day to the many modern problems that continue to plague our nation. 

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Since 2008, the Michigan State Police apparently have used devices in their patrol cruisers capable of extracting data from a driver's cell phone.  The troubling part is that it may be possible to tap your cell phone during a routine traffic stop.

The data extraction device, Cellbrite UFED, can pull existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including your call history, text messages, contacts, and images; even your geotags. It can also extract ringtones which can be highly incriminating in some situations. These devices can crack into more than 3000 cellphone models and easily blow-thru passwords.

All this, of course, raises some legitimate concerns under the Fourth Amendment's "search and seizure" clause.   Do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the data contained in your cell phone once you take that puppy on the road?

Along these lines, the Michigan Chapter of the ACLU has filed a freedom of information act request with the MSP seeking detailed information on how the device is used.  In response, the MSP has issued their own press release asserting that they do not use the data extraction device during routine traffic stops, do not use the device without a prior search warrant, and cannot extract data from the phone without first having possession of the phone.

The MSP has also asserted that compliance with the ACLU's document request would be costly but they would be delighted to produce the records in exchange for a half million dollars to cover the costs.

Stay tuned for the law suit.  In the meantime, to protect your privacy when the lights and sirens erupt behind you on your next traffic stop, you should probably power down your phone.

Cellbrite UFED

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