A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police may take and analyze DNA samples from anyone arrested for a “serious offense” as part of the gathering of forensic evidence. The decision in Maryland v. King split the justices 5-4 in support of allowing DNA collection during routine police bookings.
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The American Civil Liberties Union characterized the decision “a blow to genetic privacy.” Appraising the ruling on the ACLU’s blog, Northern California staff attorney Michael Risher wrote that the ruling allows police to seize DNA of innocent Americans without a search warrant.
Scalia makes clear, says Risher, that “the majority opinion goes against decades of precedent that makes it clear that the police cannot search an individual for evidence of a crime (and that’s clearly what they are doing here) without a specific reason to think that the search will actually uncover some evidence.”
While technological limitations today may slow the development of a functional national DNA database, Scalia writes in his dissent that the ruling would move the nation toward one. “Make no mistake about it: As an entirely...
By Nada Hassanein, New Jersey Monitor | 03.14.2024
Aggregated News
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last year approved two breakthrough gene therapies for sickle cell disease patients. Now a new federal program seeks to make these life-changing treatments available to patients with low incomes — and it could...
By Daniel Gilbert, The Washington Post | 03.07.2024
Aggregated News
Vitaly Kushnir’s fertility clinic offers to screen an embryo to predict a baby’s sex, but the service can lead to ethically murky territory, like when a couple wanted it so their first child could be a boy.
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