Today, I went with some students from the prosecution externship to visit the United States Coast Guard Academy. It was a great day trip: we had a long talk with the “Coastie” lawyers about their jobs, took a guided tour of several boats, and ate at the officers’ mess hall. Tastiest (and only) lobster cheddar melt sandwich I’ve ever had. The best part of the trip, though, came when we were talking to the enlisted man who led the tour of the boats. Since we’re always talking in class about probable cause—-exactly what the police need to know to perform a search—-one of our classmates asked what legal standard the Coast Guard had to meet in order to be able to stop a ship and search it.
Without missing a beat, the guy said, “Oh, no, we don’t have to worry about that. Because while we need probable cause to search a ship, we always have the right to board a ship to perform a ‘safety’ inspection.” He actually put “safety” in air quotes. All the students laughed and the lawyers just kind of looked at their feet. I’m pretty sure he will not be talking to any more law students anytime soon.
1 comment:
A few years ago I had the chance to tour a Coast Guard ship in port in Baltimore, given by a 19-year-old enlistee. The ship usually did tours out of Miami, and so he was talking about how Haitian refugees get sent back, but the Cubans get to stay in the U.S. Why? "Because Cuba has the communism and America has the democracy." Yes, "the" communism.
On the same trip, a friend asked him whether they called the Navy if there was a "real" problem.
Great blog!
Post a Comment