Do you live in a "Constitution-Free" Area?

According to this ACLU website, "100-mile wide strip that wraps around the external boundary" are "Constitution-Free" areas, and the Federal Government is allowed to violate the rights of the American people. Conveniently, "TWO-THIRDS of the United States’ population lives within this Constitution-free or Constitution-lite Zone."

Here's a map.
2.bp.blogspot.com...

More on the ACLU page:
The problem


Normally under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the American people are not generally subject to random and arbitrary stops and searches.
The border, however, has always been an exception. There, the longstanding view is that the normal rules do not apply. For example the authorities do not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search.”
But what is “the border”? According to the government, it is a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the “external boundary” of the United States.
As a result of this claimed authority, individuals who are far away from the border, American citizens traveling from one place in America to another, are being stopped and harassed in ways that our Constitution does not permit.
Border Patrol has been setting up checkpoints inland — on highways in states such as California, Texas and Arizona, and at ferry terminals in Washington State. Typically, the agents ask drivers and passengers about their citizenship. Unfortunately, our courts so far have permitted these kinds of checkpoints – legally speaking, they are “administrative” stops that are permitted only for the specific purpose of protecting the nation’s borders. They cannot become general drug-search or other law enforcement efforts.
However, these stops by Border Patrol agents are not remaining confined to that border security purpose. On the roads of California and elsewhere in the nation – places far removed from the actual border – agents are stopping, interrogating, and searching Americans on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing.
The bottom line is that the extraordinary authorities that the government possesses at the border are spilling into regular American streets.
Much of U.S. population affected


Many Americans and Washington policymakers believe that this is a problem confined to the San Diego-Tijuana border or the dusty sands of Arizona or Texas, but these powers stretch far inland across the United States.
To calculate what proportion of the U.S. population is affected by these powers, the ACLU created a map and spreadsheet showing the population and population centers that lie within 100 miles of any “external boundary” of the United States.
The population estimates were calculated by examining the most recent US census numbers for all counties within 100 miles of these borders. Using numbers from the Population Distribution Branch of the US Census Bureau, we were able to estimate both the total number and a state-by-state population breakdown. The custom map was created with help from a map expert at World Sites Atlas.
What we found is that fully TWO-THIRDS of the United States’ population lives within this Constitution-free or Constitution-lite Zone. That’s 197.4 million people who live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.
Nine of the top 10 largest metropolitan areas as determined by the 2000 census, fall within the Constitution-free Zone. (The only exception is #9, Dallas-Fort Worth.) Some states are considered to lie completely within the zone: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
www.aclu.org...

[edit on 16-6-2010 by monkeySEEmonkeyDO]

[edit on 16-6-2010 by monkeySEEmonkeyDO]

reply to post by monkeySEEmonkeyDO


I don't trust the ACLU to tell me what's Constitutional or not.. they are a corrupt progressive institution hellbent on destroying one persons rights for the sake of another.

I know I live in a Constitution Free zone because my local government is overwhelmingly Progressive.

And as to the ACLU's report, it's completely bogus. The check points are almost always at interior ports (such as ferries) where international crossing is possible. I've never seen a random stop point by Border Patrol on a highway unless they were looking for a specific fugitive.

Personally I see it as a non-issue.

I live on the coast but they gonna have a hard time enforcing it.

I say come on! Lets get the party started...

Molon Labe

I say BS. I don't see how this would be possible.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

If what they say is correct...
Is there no law there?
What are the laws?
Who is their government?
I could go on, but I'm sure you get it.

The ACLU stands for American Civil Liberties Union, and civil liberties are not inalienable rights, they are legal rights granted by government. The ACLU has never had any respect for inalienable rights, and they have done everything in their power to make sure you don't have any respect for inalienable rights either. People who worship civil liberties are government sycophants who advocate diminished rights. If you understand your rights are inalienable, then you don't need a damn Bill of Rights to tell you that they exist. The Bill of Rights was never a grant of rights, it is a prohibition on government, and the 2nd Amendment was established to make sure the people had the means to enforce that prohibition. Check out the ACLU's website and see what they have to say about the 2nd Amendment. I assure these "Constitutional scholars" will disagree.

The ACLU stands for American Communist Lawyers Union

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f3aa57225d12.gif[/atsimg]


As for congress, they think everyone lives in a constitution free zone.

Not buying it for a second.

Second line.

NYC has been a constitution free area since guliani was mayor...we have no 2nd at all.

For the most part the system does what it wants...I mean no one has told us...but some off us know...

Originally posted by jeh2324
I say BS. I don't see how this would be possible.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

yet they killed and imprisoned natives because they wouldn't become christians! I don't think we have any real constitutional rights, it all comes down to what the judge thinks, what the jury decides, or where the federal government ships you off to.

www.pbs.org...
www.pbs.org...
www.youtube.com...

[edit on 16-6-2010 by theuhstuf]

...prior to 09.11.01 - in texas, the "they can screw ya whenever they want" zone used to be up to 60 miles off the texmex border...

...its funny (in a really sick way) how some folks believe something cant possibly exist because they've never seen it...

Originally posted by theuhstuf

Originally posted by jeh2324
I say BS. I don't see how this would be possible.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

yet they killed and imprisoned natives because they wouldn't become christians! I don't think we have any real constitutional rights, it all comes down to what the judge thinks, what the jury decides, or where the federal government ships you off to.

www.pbs.org...
www.pbs.org...
www.youtube.com...

[edit on 16-6-2010 by theuhstuf]

Well, the best quote I have ever heard was (I don't remember the source):

"You are only as free, as you are willing to die."

There is a line for everyone, where that line is, may be different for everyone.

ACLU on the 2and amendment.
What is the ACLU's position on the Second Amendment? The Second Amendment provides: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Given the reference to "a well regulated Militia" and "the security of a free State," the ACLU has long taken the position that the Second Amendment protects a collective right rather than an individual right.

nuff said.