Pedestrian alcohol tests struck down

A practice that's so profoundly absurd that we couldn't believe it was actually going on has now been struck down as the liberty destroyer it is.

Believe it or not, Michigan had a law that let police stop pedestrians under 21 and make them take breathalyzer tests to check for "under-age" drinking. Mind you, these were not motorists, and the cops weren't checking for drunken drivers. These were pedestrians. And they were checking 20-year-olds, not kids.

But now a federal judge has quite properly put the kibosh on that, saying police can't make pedestrians take a breathalyzer test without first obtaining a search warrant. It's that not-so-little thing called the Fourth Amendment, y'know.

I still think they ought to lower the drinking age. If you're old enough to die in one of Bush's wars, then certainly you're old enough to drink. I know nowadays it's taboo to express this opinion (thanks to all the whiny exurban soccer parents who are against free speech), but that's my belief and I'm stickin' to it.

(Source: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070926/UPDATE/709260451/1003)