WorldNetDaily: Congress asked to probe ACLU

At issue: the ACLU's persistent policy of filing lawsuits that seem to defy common sense. Their latest: suing the City of New York over their policy of random searches of NYC subway passengers.

Now I don't know whether Congress even has the authority to investigate any organization that files frivolous lawsuits. I'm not even sure that anyone but the courts themselves have the authority to sanction anyone for frivolous filings. I do know that the courts could stop frivolous lawsuits any time they made up their minds to. A few summary dismissals--and, where necessary, fines--should do the trick.

But the issue of the ACLU's conduct deserves special attention. They cannot claim to be consistent defenders of people's liberties--not while they routinely sue any school district where anything other than evolutionary biology is taught. (Hat tip: David Limbaugh writing in WorldNetDaily.) I don't pretend to know their motives in this case, but at the very least I can, and do, find their judgment execrably bad. Indeed, I wonder whether they might themselves be subject to a countersuit if anything did happen on the subway that authorities might have prevented but for the ACLU's intervention.

I wonder whether anyone quite realizes the following:

• No law-enforcement agency has any enforceable duty to protect the citizens in its charge. That is why you can't sue the cops if something happens to you--not unless you can prove that the cops didn't follow proper procedure.
• The perpetrators of the London Incidents (both of them) had, in the main, given no cause, probable or otherwise, for suspicion. So the notion of "searching only on probable cause" won't cut it here--not so long as the ACLU insists on defining "probable cause" as "reason to suspect a particular person or persons."
• Finally--and this is the point that the ACLU consistently misses--when you are outside your home, you are subject to the rules and regulations of the owner of any venue you are in--whether that be the property of a private individual, company, or other organization, or those common elements that the government owns. When you walk down the stairs leading to an NYC subway station, you are a guest of the New York City Transportation Authority and are thus subject to their rules. So if they want you to stand while a German shepherd sniffs your briefcase or bookbag or purse or whatever for explosives, you can either submit or leave the premises. It's that simple. After all, no one forces you to ride the subway--but those who operate the subway have the right to protect their assets and personnel--and also to protect you and everyone else who uses the services they provide.

So once again: I'm not sure that Congress has the authority to investigate the ACLU, but I do suggest that we ignore the ACLU and stop accepting arguments that have no basis in the philosophy of law.