Supreme Court Considers No Warrant Searches

OFF THE WIRE
this is really scarey. the cops can decide to search or not
http://hightimes.com/news/mike_hughes/6911
Supreme Court Considers No Warrant Searches
by Mike Hughes
more: headline news, supreme court, legal article
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering how much leeway police have in entering a home without a warrant. The case, Kentucky v. King, centers on “exigent circumstances.” These are situations that allow police to enter and search a home without obtaining a warrant – sort of the exceptions to the warrant requirement (i.e. if authorities suspect criminal activity but believe that time is a factor due to a life being endangered, a possible escape or the destruction of evidence).
The case reached the nation’s highest court after the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned Hollis King’s conviction. King was busted and sentenced to 11 years in prison when officers, who were chasing an unrelated suspect, stumbled upon King and some friends smoking pot. Police say they smelled marijuana and feared that evidence was being destroyed. Thus, they entered King’s home and obtained evidence without a warrant.
The no warrant search turned up drugs and cash but ultimately the state Supreme Court found that police entered the apartment illegally and, as a result, the evidence found shouldn’t have been considered in the first place.
Now the U.S. Supreme Court will have its say on when cops may enter a home without a warrant.
Justice Kagan expressed concern, saying, “One of the points of the Fourth Amendment is to ensure that when people search your home, they have a warrant.” Justice Kagan pointed out that leaving such a decision up to authorities could mean “essentially eviscerating the warrant requirement in the context of the one place that the Fourth Amendment was most concerned about.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wondered if such behavior could lead to police snooping around for cause to search, “They go to the apartment building and they sniff at every door…”

However, Justice Antonin Scalia doesn’t believe police in the King case were in the wrong: “Everything done was perfectly lawful … It’s unfair to the criminal? Is that a problem? I really don’t understand the problem.” Scalia added, “The one thing that it (law enforcement) has going for it is that criminals are stupid.”

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