Court Opinion

ID: 9737922
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:37:00.986609+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:02.482086
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HEIPLE, dissenting: Because I believe that the so-called "plain touch” doctrine violates article I, section 6, of the Hlinois Constitution, which protects citizens against unreasonable searches, I respectfully dissent. Before turning to the merits of the "plain touch” doctrine, I note my disagreement with the majority’s conclusion that the Hlinois Supreme Court, in interpreting the search and seizure clause of the Hlinois Constitution, is bound to follow the decisions of the United States Supreme Court which interpret the search and seizure clause of the Federal Constitution. There is no reason for deference in this area of constitutional interpretation. It would be similarly unsupportable to suggest that the United States Supreme Court, in interpreting a provision of the Federal Constitution, is bound by decisions of the Illinois Supreme Court which interpret a similar provision of the Illinois Constitution. Regardless of the language employed in the two documents, they are separate and distinct. The United States Supreme Court has the responsibility to interpret the Federal Constitution; the Illinois Supreme Court has the responsibility to interpret its State constitution. These are nondelegable duties. The "plain touch” doctrine, a purported extension of the "plain view” doctrine, cannot withstand scrutiny. The "plain view” doctrine permits a law officer to seize contraband in plain view. The "plain touch” doctrine, on the other hand, permits a law officer to seize contraband detected through the sense of touch during the course of a weapons patdown search. It thus allows a law officer to seize anything as long as he is able to contend that he could identify the contraband by merely touching the suspect’s clothing. Realistically, no matter how absurd or unsupportable such a contention may be, a defendant will not be able to successfully challenge it. The "plain touch” doctrine will encourage officers to investigate any lump or bulge in a person’s clothing or pockets that arouses their curiosity during the course of a patdown search. If the item turns out to be contraband, then its seizure can be retrospectively justified. If it turns out to be something else, then there is no case and the matter ends there. In the interim, a citizen is subject to an unwarranted intrusion into his personal privacy far beyond the intrusion contemplated by the weapons patdown search. Governance involves choices. Every expansion of government power is a diminution of individual liberty. A balance must be struck between lawlessness and personal freedom. Some restrictions on liberty are necessary in order to have a society that is relatively free from crime and predation. The current obsession is to eliminate illicit drug use. There is no question, however, that under the so-called war on drugs, personal freedoms and liberties are being trampled. While I may deplore the marketing and use of illicit drugs, as well as the undesirable personal and social problems that flow therefrom, I believe that the pendulum has swung too far in the area of law enforcement and that the assault on our basic liberties and freedoms by government itself has become a far more serious and potentially destructive social problem.