The U.S. Supreme Court is planning to rule on whether the Fourth Amendment gives police the ability to enter a home to search and seize guns without a warrant reports Forbes.com. Under the existing provisions of the Fourth Amendment “Before a police officer or any other government official can enter your home, they must show a judge that they have probable cause that they will discover specific evidence of a crime”.
In March The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Caniglia v. Strom. The case involves Mr. Caniglia, a man with an unloaded gun who asked his wife to shoot him. His wife called a non-emergency number, but police came and convinced him to go to the hospital according to Forbes.com. While he was transported to the hospital police decided to search his home for guns without obtaining a warrant. Police seized several guns from the home. Mr. Caniglia later sued for violation of his Fourth Amendment right to privacy and his Second Amendment right to keep handguns in the home for self-protection.
The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with police citing the “community caretaking doctrine”. According to a Forbes.com article, under the “community caretaking” exception police are allowed to perform “community caretaking functions under limited circumstances. Whether the Fourth Amendment “community caretaking” exceptions, or other exceptions apply to searches of a person’s home is questionable.
Last year U.S. police shot and killed numerous Blacks after entering their homes in warrantless searches. Breonna Taylor and other victims were killed by police in incidents where there were clear violations of Fourth Amendment rights. These rights were supposed to protect the people, their property and homes above all. The Supreme Court’s decision will be further evidence of whether the nation can live up to the words written in The Bill of Rights and its amendments to protect the people and restrain the powers of the government and police.
