From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 17:03:37 +0800
To: Jim Choate <cypherpunks@ssz.com (Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer)
Subject: Re: Search warrants, was Re: On the LAM--Local Area Mixes (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <199801230244.UAA11653@einstein.ssz.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980123003758.0089c100@popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 08:44 PM 1/22/98 -0600, Jim Choate wrote:
>> > Are police considered an extension of the judicial or the executive arm of
>> > the government?
>> In theory, executive.  (That way legislative writes laws, executive
>> decides if they want to enforce them, judicial decides if they're legal or
>> not.. )  In theory, of course..
[..]
>Then how, Constitutionaly speaking, do they have get the responsbility to
>search when it is clearly a judicial responsibility (that is where it is
>in the Constitution) 

Going and doing stuff is an Executive Branch function;
enforcing laws is an Executive Branch function.
Issuing the warrant allowing the police to go search or arrest
someone is a judicial function, and is generally done on request
by the police or prosecutors.  In the case of early-60s New York,
of course, it simply wasn't bothered with.  :-)

>and in cases such as Evans -v- Gore the Supreme Court
>has found that the judicial body can't transfer or relinquish it's
>responsibilities even if it *wants* to?
I'm not familiar with the case - got a pointer?

				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639