Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

agweb.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 106 posts

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#11

Post by superkuh »

loeg wrote: post #10
superkuh wrote: post #6

The public figure conservation officer with the implied vendetta can be viewed on page 47/52 of this pdf https://www.fishandboat.com/About-Us/Angler-and-Boater/Legac... . It is a public document showing a public function where he received an award. The PDF is available on a government website and intentionally published for and accessible by the public.

To what end?

Everyone else in the story has their photo shown. I was curious what he looked like and figured the omission fill would be appreciated by others.

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#12

Post by casefields »

loeg wrote: post #10
superkuh wrote: post #6

The public figure conservation officer with the implied vendetta can be viewed on page 47/52 of this pdf https://www.fishandboat.com/About-Us/Angler-and-Boater/Legac... . It is a public document showing a public function where he received an award. The PDF is available on a government website and intentionally published for and accessible by the public.

To what end?

I imagine curiosity like most things on HN.

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#13

Post by JumpCrisscross »

crooked-v wrote: post #5

I'm badly split on Institute for Justice, the nonprofit backing this suit. On the one hand, they aggressively advocate for obvious constitutional rights cases like this one and have put a lot of effort into fighting legally-accepted-yet-fundamentally-nonsensical practices like civil forfeiture. On the other, they also aggressively support school vouchers, which are mostly a scheme to drain money from public schools i…

It’s almost like democracy involves coalition building and compromise, where absolute positions are anathema.

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#14

Post by lazyeye »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #13
crooked-v wrote: post #5

I'm badly split on Institute for Justice, the nonprofit backing this suit. On the one hand, they aggressively advocate for obvious constitutional rights cases like this one and have put a lot of effort into fighting legally-accepted-yet-fundamentally-nonsensical practices like civil forfeiture. On the other, they also aggressively support school vouchers, which are mostly a scheme to drain money from public schools i…

It’s almost like democracy involves coalition building and compromise, where absolute positions are anathema.

Yes the idea that the govt is the best at everything (let alone schooling...)

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#15

Post by Suppafly »

crooked-v wrote: post #5

I'm badly split on Institute for Justice, the nonprofit backing this suit. On the one hand, they aggressively advocate for obvious constitutional rights cases like this one and have put a lot of effort into fighting legally-accepted-yet-fundamentally-nonsensical practices like civil forfeiture. On the other, they also aggressively support school vouchers, which are mostly a scheme to drain money from public schools i…

I'm not a fan of vouchers in general, especially if they allow public funds to go to religious institutions, but educational choice (as IJ terms it) is a tricky area. A lot of times these programs allow people to move between public schools or get additional funds for alternative programs that better suit their children's needs.

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#16

Post by gs17 »

dmitrygr wrote: post #9

> According to 12 words of Pennsylvania state code, PFBC officials have authority to “enter upon any land or water in the performance of their duties.” The statue provides wide latitude for PFBC to enter onto any property without consent, probable cause, or warrant—with no limits on duration, frequency, or scope. Say what? That is how you get shot in rural america, as you should...

A similar case in VA had the state official sneak in wearing camouflage and steal the person's property: https://ij.org/case/virginia-open-fields/ I really have to wonder how it would be ruled if he had ran out with a gun and shot at the thief.

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#17

Post by Joker_vD »

gs17 wrote: post #3

IJ has a few similar cases: https://ij.org/issues/ijs-project-on-the-4th-amendment/open-... The idea that state officials can trespass on your land and plant cameras (or steal yours) without even a suspicion of a crime is absurd, even if just for how much danger it puts the state employees in.

I imagine the state sees the land as their property, which private individuals don't, strictly speaking, own but merely hold infinite lease on (land tax = rent price, eminent domain = one-side lease termination with compensation, etc). This legal philosophy arguably makes some theoretical sense but has rather unpalatable practical consequences.

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#18

Post by riskable »

I'm torn on this one: Should law enforcement need a warrant to search your property? Certainly. Seems obvious, right? Except this is a "conservation officer" who has been granted certain rights (by the state of PA) to:

    Enter upon any land or water in the performance of their duties.
See: https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?...

If they couldn't move between properties along shorelines they'd have a hell of a time doing their actual job. Any criminal could fish illegally on private property then flee when a they see a conservation officer approaching in a boat. They'd never catch anyone who fishes along a shore.

This lawsuit seems like a nuclear weapon being thrown at an overly zealous individual who possibly has some sort of personal vendetta against the property owner.

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#19

Post by Suppafly »

dmitrygr wrote: post #9

> According to 12 words of Pennsylvania state code, PFBC officials have authority to “enter upon any land or water in the performance of their duties.” The statue provides wide latitude for PFBC to enter onto any property without consent, probable cause, or warrant—with no limits on duration, frequency, or scope. Say what? That is how you get shot in rural america, as you should...

Not to mention that states can't just agree to give their employees more rights than what the constitution allows.

Re: Landowner Sues After State Searches Property Without Warrant or Consent

#20

Post by gs17 »

crooked-v wrote: post #5

I'm badly split on Institute for Justice, the nonprofit backing this suit. On the one hand, they aggressively advocate for obvious constitutional rights cases like this one and have put a lot of effort into fighting legally-accepted-yet-fundamentally-nonsensical practices like civil forfeiture. On the other, they also aggressively support school vouchers, which are mostly a scheme to drain money from public schools i…

I'm willing to accept that the 90% of what they do that's things I really really agree with comes with some things I don't like as much. They're willing to take on cases like https://ij.org/case/florida-cultivated-meat-ban/ too.
Post reply on HN