Our freedoms are slowly being usurped. The Supreme Court is claiming that law enforcement officers may enter your home if they suspect you are flushing evidence down the toilet.
Mark Sherman reports, via Macon.com:
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court isn’t given to offering advice to people who are breaking the law, even in a minor way. But some justices on Wednesday effectively told those who might be sitting at home smoking pot when the police come knocking: Do not flush the toilet.
Because if officers smell the pot from the outside, think the occupants are trying to get rid of it and burst in without a search warrant to prevent evidence from being destroyed, some justices indicated they would approve.
The discussion arose during the court’s consideration of a case about when the police can enter a home without a search warrant, which the Constitution normally requires.
It’s just the 4th Amendment. Why should the Supreme Court hold up our rights given to us under the 4th Amendment? The courts are giving law enforcement officers powers that were never intended.
There are exceptions, and the state of Kentucky argued that its treatment of Hollis King should be one such exception.
The issue for the justices is whether police action – in this case, a knock on a door – that triggers a reaction on the other side – like noise that suggests destruction of evidence - should justify the warrantless entry.
New Justice Elena Kagan said she worries the court could make it too easy for police to avoid the time and effort of getting warrant “in a very wide variety of cases.” She said that view would require only that officers said they smelled “pot, we heard noise.”
Yet several justices suggested that as long as the police reasonably suspect something illegal is going on and do not use deception or illegal means to gain entry, the search probably doesn’t violate the Constitution.
Entering someone’s home without a warrant is illegal, according to the 4th Amendment. I would like to point out that if anyone can hear your toilet flush while outside your home, you must have a huge toilet. Hearing this noise will allow a Police officer to violate your 4th amendment right and enter your home without a search warrant.
‘The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’
