Bad news for your rights

Today the Supreme Court, on a 5-4 ruling, considerably narrowed the scope of the exclusionary rule, the provision which bars illegally-obtained evidence from use against a defendant. Long story short: the police now can arrest and detain citizens on false and expired warrants; and the procedural framework which safeguards our civil liberties from the police has been significantly muddled. The New York Times has a good summary of events leading to today's decision here.