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Commonwealth v. Rodriguez1/18/2000
out probable cause or reasonable suspicion." Ante at . The crux of the court's proposed distinction, however, consists in its twin assertions that narcotics interdiction roadblocks, unlike operating while under the influence roadblocks, serve exclusively criminal justice goals and that the threat to the public from illegal drugs, while admittedly serious, is less immediate and more tenuous than the threat to public safety posed by drunk drivers. See ante at . But such assertions overlook the magnitude of the contemporary social evils linked to the trafficking in and use of illegal drugs. Furthermore, experience tends to demonstrate that most people engaged in the illegal transportation of controlled substances are users themselves. It cannot be doubted that the danger to the public arising from the operation of motor vehicles on the highways of the Commonwealth by intoxicated persons is the same regardless of the substances that caused their intoxication. In short, the court, it seems to me, has here fastened on a distinction that lacks a difference. Even more importantly, the court's reasoning today further illustrates how ephemeral a balancing approach is when founded on debatable and changeable evaluations of society's most pressing needs and problems and, therefore, how unsuitable it is as a touchstone for the reasonableness of a warrantless search and seizure.
Because I see no principled distinction between operating while under the influence roadblocks and roadblocks designed to interdict illegal drugs or other contraband, I believe that they should be accorded equal treatment by this court. Absent probable cause or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, both forms of warrantless search and seizure should be held constitutionally invalid.
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