The Politics of Roadblocks After reviewing the many court decisions involving roadblocks and related search and seizure cases the trends are fairly obvious, and ominous.
Personal privacy is an endangered right.
The judicial rationalizations that legalize roadblocks for law enforcement purposes can be characterized as contorted, convoluted, and blind to the Pandora's box of abuses they can unleash. The principle of individual privacy, the right to be left alone, has repeatedly been diluted and undermined in the name of safety, national security, or crime prevention. Depending on the courts to reverse this trend is an exercise in futility. Re-gaining our personal privacy and giving substance to the concept of the right to be left alone are battles that will have to be fought in the legislative arena. The fight will range from state to state and multiple sessions of Congress.