Former Vice President Dick Cheney the God and Iraq War Arrest

By an 8-0 vote, the Supreme Court has ruled that a Colorado man who was arrested after physically accosting then-Vice President Dick Cheney can't sue two Secret Service agents for violating his 1st Amendment rights. It's the appropriate decision, but the court didn't go far enough in making clear that agents who have probable cause to make an arrest shouldn't be punished because of their dislike for the suspect's opinions.

In 2006, Steven Howards confronted Cheney at a shopping mall in Beaver Creek, Colo., and told the vice president the war in Iraq was "disgusting." He was completely within his rights to do so. But he then either pushed or touched Cheney — he initially denied any physical contact — and was arrested and detained for several hours, though charges were eventually dismissed. In filing a damages suit against the agents who arrested him, Howards contended that they had violated both his 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and his 1st Amendment right to free speech.