The United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in a case that police confiscating a man's weapons while he was in the hospital undergoing a psychiatric evaluation and searching the house without a search warrant violate the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
The court also ruled 9-0 that police can not enter a Rhode Island man's home to seize his arms under the "Community caretaking" exception to the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.
The decision originated from a 2015 incident in Rhode Island in which a married couple protested over an attempted suicide. At one point, Edward Caniglia, the husband, gave his wife, Kim, an unloaded gun and told her to kill him. She instead fled the house and asked that the local police check on him.
When the police came, they entered into his house and seized his weapons. He later filed a lawsuit. At first, a federal court ruled against him. Then, w hen he appealed and took the case to an appeals court, the court again ruled against him. Then they expanded a "community caretaking exception" that allows officers to search vehicles without a warrant to include searches of homes as well.
However, Justice Thomas said that the "community caretaking" rule in the First and Fifth Circuits "goes beyond anything this Court has recognized."
Moreover, the Supreme Court affirmed the long-standing constitutional position that officers searching the house without a search warrant violates the Fourth Amendment. In their opinion they state "The Fourth Amendment protects ‘[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.' The 'very core' of this guarantee is 'the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.'"
HELP STOP THE SPREAD OF FAKE NEWS!
SHARE our articles and like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter!
0 Comments