[serf]

1) DUI checkpoints are actually law-breaker checkpoints. Illegal immigrants, non-insured, unlicensed, whatever. They don't just catch and prosecute DUIs.

2) They wreck traffic.

3) In nearly all cases they are easily routed around. Most (if not all) are advertised in a local media -- affording habitual day-drinkers the opportunity to avoid them easily. (this wrecks the REST of the traffic near the area, usually with panicked drunk drivers avoiding the stop)

4) They cost law enforcement time, for very little proven efficacy at anything more than accruing state revenue for expired tags and other small misdemeanors.

[a1a]

1) Is that really a bad thing? Isn't it generally a good thing that law enforcement finds law-breakers?

2) So do drunk drivers that crash.

3) You're arguing against yourself. Yes, it's bad that bad guys get notified so they can avoid checkpoints.

4) Shouldn't law enforcement spend their time enforcing the law? It's well spent time IMO. As you say in (1), they also solve other more serious crimes (e.g. finding wanted criminals)

[buildingsramen]

I find these arguments much more convincing than "muh freedom". If these points are supported by evidence (especially #4) then that's good enough for me.

[Gorbzel]

Thank god one's civil liberties aren't dependent on whether or not you are convinced by them.

[buildingsramen]

Can you tell me which of your civil liberties is being violated by DUI checkpoints?

[ceejayoz]

Traffic stops require reasonable suspicion to pull over your car under the Fourth Amendment. I find it hard to explain how a DUI checkpoint is not a similar action to a traffic stop.

[buildingsramen]

See the Supreme Court ruling on this matter, elsewhere in this thread.

[ceejayoz]

The Supreme Court has made bad rulings - we're certainly lucky Dred Scott v. Sandford doesn't still apply - and a 6-3 split indicates some significant disagreement even among the foremost legal minds in the country.

From a common-sense standpoint, I don't see how a DUI checkpoint isn't fundamentally similar to a traffic stop, regardless of the SCOTUS decision that permits them.

[mindcrime]

I find these arguments much more convincing than "muh freedom".

Then you're doing it wrong.