wineboyrider said:
The US constitution says you have the right to remain silent, but the supreme court says you must have an id card on you..... :?
The SCOTUS says you must provide your full legal name if stopped by an officer (in a state with a stop and identify statute) with reasonable suspicion that you have committed a crime. Reasonable suspicion must be articulable in a court of law. If asked your name, you may ask if they have reasonable suspicion, and what that is. They are not required to tell you anything, however, because they are above the law. If they do not or will not provide you with reasonable suspicion at the time of the request, you do not technically have to provide your name. In order to even attempt to mess with the gestapo in this fashion is a good way to get tased, shot, beat down and then arrested (even if you're dead) as they tend to be a vindictive irrational hate-filled bunch with a drastically undeserved sense of superiority. You would need undetectable 3rd party video.audio evidence of the interaction to prove that RS was not established, and the DA can still get the case made with many judges, besides you're now a corpse, let's not forget! The Fifth Amendment can only apply if revealing your name could itself lead to incrimination of the suspected crime directly, and I'm not sure how that scenario would come about.
You do not have to carry ID in the US except for specific circumstances, like operating a motor vehicle or returning an item to a store, or buying alcohol.
The "am I being detained" line that you often hear being loathed by feckless pundits is to determine whether or not the rules of stop and identify are applicable to your situation. If you are not in detention, and are instead involved in a casual or consensual encounter, there is no obligation to provide a name, nor remain in the presence of the officer(s) If you are detained and an officer attempts to search you, it is because they believe they can get away with it, one way or another, legal or no. Resisting is a bad idea for most people in most cases. You can and should say "I do not consent to a search" if being probed about contents or belongings, as saying nothing can and has been shown to excuse a search if the officer claims they
felt they had consent. It will only help if the officer cares about the law or repercussions, which is unlikely as there usually are none of consequence.
tl;dr; "Pick up that can, citizen." Followed immediately by: "Papers, please!"
