Deanimator
Member
The 1st Amendment doesn't give me ANY right to FORCIBLY inflict my opinions on you. I cannot barge into your home and FORCE you to listen to my opinions. I cannot FORCIBLY detain you in the street for the same purpose. The 1st Amendment IN NO WAY protects any such behavior. Nor does it protect any imaginary power of police to detain you for what is CLEARLY not a law enforcement purpose.Deanimator, a dude sharing his opinion in a few short sentences as he's handing back another dude's driver's license just doesn't seem like that big a deal to me. If you have a different opinion then the same amendment that gives him the right to express his opinion gives you the right to tell him you think he should shut up.
As for me, I plan to chose my battles a little more carefully.
Not coincidentally, in virtually EVERY case in which I've seen or heard of police doing it, their opinions were CONTRARY TO THE LAW.
So, is it ok for a cop who's detained a Black person to opine to that person who cannot lawfully leave, that the wrong side won the Civil War and that slavery ought to be reinstated? How about if he detains a Jew and notes how he believes that the Holocaust is a "hoax"? No racial slurs, no threats, just "a few sentences" to a captive audience regarding his "opinions" on these matters. Remember, support for slavery and denial of the Holocaust are, as opinions, ABSOLUTELY PROTECTED by the 1st Amendment.