Supreme Court ruling expands police authority in home searches

[djegators]

I don't know much time we have left, and I don't know if its too late to do anything about it, but it certainly seems the republic is lost.


Police officers may enter and search a home without a warrant as long
as one occupant consents, even if another resident has previously
objected, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a Los Angeles case.



The 6-3 ruling, triggered by a Los Angeles Police Department arrest in 2009, gives authorities more leeway to search homes without obtaining a warrant, even when there is no emergency.

The majority, led by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.,
said police need not take the time to get a magistrate's approval
before entering a home in such cases. But dissenters, led by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
warned that the decision would erode protections against warrantless
home searches. The court had previously held that such protections were
at the "very core" of the 4th Amendment and its ban on unreasonable
searches and seizures.



LINK

 

[93nole99]

Gotta live alone now to keep your rights. But when is your roomie ever gonna screw you over? Ask Danny

 

[CompuGator]

Qualifications?/Re: Supreme Court [...] expands police [...] searches

Reporter David G. Savage failed to address some obvious issues.

From the same L.A. Times link[*]:Which of the names of Fernandez (the refusing resident) and Rojas (the consenting resident) actually appear as signatures on the apartment lease that's now in effect? Both of them? Or was one or the other only a long-term "visitor", without any legal status as a tenant? Maybe even a "visitor" for such a long term as to be violating the terms of the lease?Would the Supremes accept the consent to warrantless searches being given by older minors who haven't yet reached the legal age of consent for other purposes (e.g.: consuming alcohol, joining the Army, making valid contracts, or having sex)? Did anything like this issue arise in oral arguments or written briefs?-------
Note *: Except that as I suspected, everything from the '#' to the end of the Web address is not needed at all for access by the rest of us; it tracks its propagation by the initial reader (i.e.: 'djegators').


This post was edited on 2/27 6:57 PM by CompuGator

 

[Dannygator1989]

Originally posted by 93nole99:

Gotta live alone now to keep your rights. But when is your roomie ever gonna screw you over? Ask Danny

Hey, I could make this work to my advantage if the occasion ever arose.