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Comment by helpfulanon | Hacker News Reader

Fun fact - the "border zone" in which your 4th amendment rights are suspended and you are subject to search, is 100 miles wide and overlaps where the majority of Americans live and work

https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone

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Well, you're not completely wrong but there are additional tests for search http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2013/02/does-a-constituti...

> Searches within the 100-mile extended border zone, and outside of the immediate border-stop location, must meet three criteria: a person must have recently crossed a border; an agent should know that the object of a search hasn’t changed; and that “reasonable suspicion” of a criminal activity must exist, says the CRS

Every time I see this map (which, AFAIK, is a visualization by the ACLU and not based on an official government publication) I wonder why Chicago and the coastline of Lake Michigan is included. The border with Canada runs diagonally down the length of Lake Superior, clears the Straits of Mackinac by at least 40 miles, and then continues southeast along Lake Huron to Sarnia and Detroit.

The entirety of Lake Michigan is within the borders of the US, so while this entire "100-mile border zone" business is bizarre enough as it is, it's truly disingenuous to include the lower Lake Michigan coastline. It makes me wonder if this is an interpretational liberty taken solely by the ACLU, or if the government's demonstrated behavior truly justifies what is shown on the map.

So what did the ACLU say when you contacted them? I'm curious how it turned out.

If you are sailing you apparently you only cross the border when you dock your boat.

http://www.great-lakes-sailing.com/canada_us_border.html

I guess sailing from the Canadian shores of Huron to somewhere in Michigan wouldn't be all that weird.

If you can't change the constitution/law, redefine the meanings of words and you get the same tyranny.

Wow, I thought that only extended OUTSIDE the border, not INSIDE as well!

What? That doesn't make any sense. Constitutional rights don't apply anywhere outside the border as far as I know. In this context, the area can only extend inside. Or do I misunderstand your comment?

The thing is, the bill of rights doesnt say anything about that. It says "the government shall not", and it seems to me any sane interpretation would say it applies wherever the government is active and claiming jurisdiction.

I always knew that the US considered a 100 mile radius outside of our borders (specifically marine regions) as part of our borders and that it's basically de-facto "US territory". This is only a dim memory from reading about various stories from the "drug war."

and worse, it technically includes all ports. which could basically mean radii around every international airport.

when i first learned about this, I scared my lawyer girlfriend about it and she helped me look into the actual court cases. they have been somewhat difficult to hold up. usually because LO abuses the rules by not following the three terms listed above. and it still takes getting all the way to Supreme Court which is a massive drain on resources for those typically affected by this.

I think the power grab in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison did not really benefit the people or the states.

Getting a case before the court takes tons of time and money.

If issues of abuse of power could be resolved by the states, people could see justice faster.

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