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.
