Overpundit expresses concern that Thornton v. United States will result in a ruling which allows police to search any car wherein a person whom they have arrested was recently.
I agree with his sentiment and hope that the federal supreme court stops the insidious practice of allowing officers to search a car after a suspect has exited - when it is clearly not done in an effort to keep the officer from the car. This has been the law of the Commonwealth of Virginia since Glasco v. Commonwealth, 257 Va.433 (1999)(very similar facts to Thornton). Nowadays, if officers develop probable cause in your client's case the client had best not have even thought of being anywhere near his car or they're going in.
As I've stated before, I no longer believe that you have rights if you decide to drive a car. I'll keep fighting the rearguard action but the battle here is lost and the wasteland it has left behind is desolate.
And I state yet again, lest I get nastygrams, I do not blame the officers for this. The rules are laid out by the courts and legislatures. Most officers follow the rules and the responsibility for their actions lies at the feet of those who allow them.
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