Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

High Court Allows Disputed Home Search
AP ^ | February 25, 2014 | Mark Sherman

Posted on 02/25/2014 4:59:06 PM PST by Altariel

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police may search a home without a warrant when two occupants disagree about allowing officers to enter, and the resident who refuses access is then arrested.

The justices declined to extend an earlier ruling denying entry to police when the occupants disagree and both are present.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the court's 6-3 decision holding that an occupant may not object to a search when he is not at home.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: alito; donutwatch; nowarrant; samuelalito; scotus; search; supremecourt
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-129 last
To: OneWingedShark

OK, not all agreed searches are reasonable. But most are.

To me 4A has two purposes:

It prohibits unreasonable searches.

It prescribes rules for the issuing of warrants, under which one group of reasonable searches occurs.

But I think it cannot be stretched to mean any and all searches without warrant are unconstitutional. Searches with warrants are one sub-group of reasonable searches.


121 posted on 02/26/2014 8:01:09 AM PST by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 119 | View Replies]

To: OneWingedShark

You can consider anything you want. (As can I, and any other citizen.)

The courts have from the earliest days of the Republic defined what searches are unreasonable. Your opinion or mine is perhaps interesting, but neither of us is designated by the Constitution to settle points of its interpretation.

The Constitution says “unreasonable” searches are prohibited. Determining the boundary between “reasonable” and “unreasonable” searches is exactly the type of thing the Founders intended the Courts to do.

The Founders could very easily have just deleted the first clause of 4a, and just prohibited any and all searches without a warrant. They chose to include the “unreasonable” language for a reason.


122 posted on 02/26/2014 8:11:38 AM PST by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 120 | View Replies]

To: Sherman Logan
The Constitution says “unreasonable” searches are prohibited. Determining the boundary between “reasonable” and “unreasonable” searches is exactly the type of thing the Founders intended the Courts to do.

The Founders could very easily have just deleted the first clause of 4a, and just prohibited any and all searches without a warrant. They chose to include the “unreasonable” language for a reason.

If they could trust the courts to accurately define reasonable/unreasonable, then why would they have any warrant requirement?

From Vigilantes with a Badge: The War Against the American People:

As journalist Herman Schwartz observed, “The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official.”

123 posted on 02/26/2014 8:41:03 AM PST by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 122 | View Replies]

To: Altariel

This rule has been around for a while.

If one resident allows access, then it is a waiver. It came about with the OLD domestic violence cases where a person inside was begging for help and the perp was telling the police to “go away.”


124 posted on 02/26/2014 8:44:44 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: OneWingedShark

I don’t claim that the Supremes have properly decided the bounds of “reasonable” searches, only that the Constitution gave them the authority to set those bounds.


125 posted on 02/26/2014 9:08:24 AM PST by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 123 | View Replies]

To: longtermmemmory

Now, the person refusing access will be arrested.

Some of the worst abuses begin “for the right reason / right cause”.


126 posted on 02/26/2014 12:21:13 PM PST by Altariel ("Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 124 | View Replies]

To: OneWingedShark

Thanks for the link.


127 posted on 02/26/2014 12:23:21 PM PST by Altariel ("Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 107 | View Replies]

To: Altariel; All

So if I am at home and I object, and my wife, or anyone else there has a brain fart and says yes to the search or allowing entry of law enforcement into my home without MY consent, or throw it around the other way...

Throw the BoR’s out the window and full speed ahead???

Like I said on the Texas board...Someone kick me in the head and wake me up from this nightmare!!!


128 posted on 02/26/2014 12:52:01 PM PST by stevie_d_64 (It's not the color of one's skin that offends people...it's how thin it is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers
I'm with you. I agree with the Court in this very narrow ruling where there are reasonable grounds to remove the petitioner from the premises. These include probable cause for the robbery he had just committed as well as the domestic violence which he had just committed. The petitioner did not even contest probable cause in his arrest. If the police have motive to remove you or I from our homes with an unreasonable arrest with the intent to get consent for a warrantless search from our housemate, then we'll be winners in court as was Randolph in Georgia v. Randolph.

More from the ruling:

"We first consider the argument that the presence of the objecting occupant is not necessary when the police are responsible for his absence. In Randolph, the Court suggested in dictum that consent by one occupant might not be sufficient if "there is evidence that the police have removed the potentially objecting tenant from the entrance for the sake of avoiding a possible objection." 547

U. S., at 121. We do not believe the statement should be read to suggest that improper motive may invalidate objectively justified removal. Hence, it does not govern here.

The Randolph dictum is best understood not to require an inquiry into the subjective intent of officers who detain or arrest a potential objector but instead to refer to situations in which the removal of the potential objector is not objectively reasonable. As petitioner acknowledges, see Brief for Petitioner 25, our Fourth Amendment cases "have repeatedly rejected" a subjective approach. Brigham City, 547 U. S., at 404 (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). "Indeed, we have never held, outside limited contexts such as an ‘inventory search or administrative inspection . . . , that an officer’s motive invalidates objectively justifiable behavior under the Fourth Amendment.’" King, 563 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 10).

Petitioner does not claim that the Randolph Court meant to break from this consistent practice, and we do not think that it did. And once it is recognized that the test is one of objective reasonableness, petitioner’s argument collapses. He does not contest the fact that the police had reasonable grounds for removing him from the apartment so that they could speak with Rojas, an apparent victim of domestic violence, outside of petitioner’s potentially intimidating presence. In fact, he does not even contest the existence of probable cause to place him under arrest. We therefore hold that an occupant who is absent due to a lawful detention or arrest stands in the same shoes as an occupant who is absent for any other reason."

129 posted on 02/07/2015 9:04:09 AM PST by Rockitz (This is NOT rocket science - Follow the money and you'll find the truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-129 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson