Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 13 submissions in the queue.
posted by Dopefish on Friday February 28 2014, @06:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the freedom-is-not-free dept.

GungnirSniper writes "By a six to three vote, the US Supreme Court has ruled police may enter a home if one occupant allows it even after another previously did not consent.

In the decision on Tuesday in Fernandez v. California, the Court determined since the suspect, Walter Fernandez, was removed from the home and arrested, his live-in girlfriend's consent to search was enough. The Court had addressed a similar case in 2006 in Georgia v. Randolph, but found that since the suspect was still in the home and against the search, it should have kept authorities from entering.

RT.com notes "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined in the minority by Justices Kagan and Sotomayor, marking a gender divide among the Justices in the case wrote the dissenting opinion, calling the decision a blow to the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits 'unreasonable searches and seizures.'"

Could this lead to police arresting people objecting to searches to remove the need for warrants?"

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday February 28 2014, @06:29PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Friday February 28 2014, @06:29PM (#8668)

    There would be absolutely no down-side to requiring a warring in this specific situation. There was no immediate risk of harm to anyone. This sounds like an excuse to poke another hole in the fourth.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by hubie on Friday February 28 2014, @06:45PM

    by hubie (1068) on Friday February 28 2014, @06:45PM (#8679) Journal

    Actually, from TFA:

    In 2009, the Los Angeles Police Department sought suspect Walter Fernandez, believed to have stabbed someone in a violent gang robbery. When police first arrived at the suspect's home, they heard yelling and screaming before Fernandez's live-in girlfriend Roxanne Rojas answered the door, appearing "freshly bruised and bloody," and with an infant in hand, according to argument recap by SCOTUSblog.

    It seems that there was reason to believe that there was immediate risk, which is what they took the guy away for. Then, since he wasn't present, and because the woman consented to the search, they searched the place and found evidence implicating him for a robbery (not child abuse).