For Immediate Release: May 17, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police cannot carry out warrantless home invasions in order to seize guns under the pretext of their “community caretaking” duties.

Ruling that police must have a warrant or evidence of an actual emergency before invading a home without the owner’s consent, the Supreme Court has rejected attempts by police to expand their search and seizure authority under the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment. The decision in Caniglia v. Strom dovetails with The Rutherford Institute’s arguments that allowing police limitless discretion to enter homes flies in the face of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.

“This was yet another blatant attempt by law enforcement to create gaping holes in the Fourth Amendment force field that is supposed to protect homeowners and their homes against warrantless invasions by the government,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “Thankfully, the Supreme Court recognized that ‘we the people’ do not need another slippery slope argument allowing government officials to violate the Fourth Amendment at will under the pretext of public health and safety.” More