Strip-searched teachers school the White House

Two Iowa teachers are about to teach the Bush administration a few things about the Constitution.

The teachers were arrested at a 2004 campaign rally for President Bush after the Secret Service tried to move them first off a sidewalk and then off a parking lot. One was holding a paper sign expressing opposition to the war in Iraq and the other was wearing a John Kerry button.

The Secret Service didn't arrest the women, but Iowa state troopers did. The two teachers, who are in their fifties, were taken to a county jail and strip-searched. They were charged with criminal trespass. The charges were dropped a few months later.

This is a good example of what is, and what is not, due process of law.

While the phrase "due process" has come to mean any judge's view of fundamental fairness on any subject, what it originally meant and still means is this: the typical, ordinary procedures of law enforcement and the courts. "Due process" is the opposite of arbitrary power.

Iowa's state troopers typically reserve strip-searches for people suspected of carrying drugs or weapons. Teachers expressing opposition to administration policies do not fall into this category and no amount of whining about presidential security in the midst of a war on terror ought to convince anybody otherwise.

It certainly appears that the federal agents and the state troopers worked together to arbitrarily remove these women from a public event in a city park in order to prevent unpleasant images from tarnishing the president's coverage on the local news. As if that didn't violate their constitutional rights plainly enough, the women were jailed and strip-searched, a crass display of government intimidation and a flagrant violation of due process of law.

The Bill of Rights was written to prevent this.

The teachers are suing the Secret Service, the Iowa State Patrol and Linn County. They will win. Look up the case of Brown v. Mississippi and see if you don't agree.


Copyright 2005