United States Supreme Court Goes Fascist: Rules It’s Okay For Police to Break Down Your Door Without Warrant
First they came for the hackers, and I said nothing. Then, they came for the drug users, and I said nothing. Then they came for the bloggers…
This is absolutely crazy! If you think we’re not hurtling at breakneck speeds towards a fascist totalitarian police state, think again!:
Supreme Court gives police a new entryway into homes
The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision in a Kentucky case, says police officers who loudly knock on a door in search of illegal drugs and then hear sounds suggesting evidence is being destroyed may break down the door and enter without a search warrant.
By David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times – via Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday gave police more leeway to break into residences in search of illegal drugs.
The justices in an 8-1 decision said officers who loudly knock on a door and then hear sounds suggesting evidence is being destroyed may break down the door and enter without a search warrant.
Think about that for a moment: The police can now break your door down if you are merely sitting there on the throne doing your daily business when they come a’knocking and you decide to flush the toilet in the process of cleaning yourself up to answer the door! And, what exactly constitutes “sounds suggesting evidence is being destroyed?” A shuffle? A cough? What? Very nebulous indeed! I mean, what if you, like me, like to walk around the house in your boxer shorts all day long and whenever someone knocks on the door, you have to rustle around a little to grab some pants and throw them on? Is that rustling noise now a go-ahead signal for cops to break down your door?
Residents who “attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame” when police burst in, said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Again I ask, what exactly constitutes sounds suggesting evidence is being destroyed? The police are going to use any excuse they can to violate your 4th Amendment rights. It’s not their fault; they have a job to do and will use any “gray areas” and legal means necessary to accomplish that job. But, the Supreme Court giving police the green light to break down your door if they “think” they hear evidence being destroyed is beyond insane—it’s straight out of Nazi Germany!
Don’t blame me when innocent homeowners start shooting and killing “intruders” breaking down their doors only to find out, much to their chagrin, that it was just the po-po doing their jobs—blame the United States Supreme Court Justices!
In a lone dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she feared the ruling in a Kentucky case will give police an easy way to ignore the 4th Amendment. “Police officers may not knock, listen and then break the door down,” she said, without violating the 4th Amendment.
Crap! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually agree with her “high”ness on this one!
In the past, the court has said police usually may not enter a home unless they have a search warrant or the permission of the owner. As Alito said, “The 4th Amendment has drawn a firm line at the entrance to the house.”
Uh, yeah…It’s more like a squiggly dotted line now, wouldn’t you say, Mr. Justice Alito?
One exception to that rule involves an emergency, such as screams coming from a house. Police may also pursue a fleeing suspect who enters a residence. Police were attempting to do that in the Kentucky case, but they entered the wrong apartment, raising the issue of what is permissible in situations where police have reason to believe evidence is being destroyed.
It began when police in Lexington, Ky., were following a suspect who allegedly had sold crack cocaine to an informer and then walked into an apartment building. They did not see which apartment he entered, but when they smelled marijuana smoke come from one of the apartments, they wrongly assumed he had gone into that one. They pounded on the door and called “Police. Police. Police,” and heard the sounds of people moving.
At this, the officers announced they were coming in, and they broke down the door. They found Hollis King smoking marijuana, and put him under arrest. They also found powder cocaine. King was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
[…]
Alito said the police conduct in this case “was entirely lawful,” and they were justified in breaking down the door to prevent the destruction of the evidence.
“When law enforcement officers who are not armed with a warrant knock on a door, they do no more than any private citizen may do,” he wrote. A resident need not respond, he added. But the sounds of people moving and perhaps toilets being flushed could justify police entering without a warrant, he added.
Oh, you’re saying that private citizens may now break down my door and “lawfully” enter my residence if they hear me flushing the toilet? Give me a friggin’ break! You know what I do to “private citizens” who break down my door? I shoot them!
“Destruction of evidence issues probably occur most frequently in drug cases because drugs may be easily destroyed by flushing down a toilet,” he added.
[…]
Ginsburg, however, said the court’s approach “arms the police with a way routinely to dishonor the 4th Amendment’s warrant requirement in drug cases.” She said the police did not face a “genuine emergency” and should not have been allowed to enter the apartment without a warrant.
Again, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but her “high”ness is absolutely correct on this one!
Explore posts in the same categories: Abuse of Power, Insanity, Law Enforcement, Orwellian, Supreme Court, U.S. Constitution
Doctor Bulldog & Ronin 
17 May, 2011 at 11:34 am
The drug cartels and the jihadists have made these people insane. it is almost as if that this was the plan all along. Just what Americans need, union scum busting though our doors.
17 May, 2011 at 11:41 am
Anyone who busts through your door is a home invader and should be treated that way. Bust through Alitos door and make a citizen arrest.
17 May, 2011 at 11:56 am
If you think the law is fascist now you should have seen them before this last thirty years of push back. This abusive law came about at the beginning of their movement, the 20s and it continued on until the 60s. Thats right, some people were mad at the fascists, for a reason, it wasn’t all about commies and dirty hippies you know, even if they want you to believe that. Just check out how they behave in movies from that era. The Constitutional compact is for all intents and purposes, dead. States should immediately begin petitioning for secession. I will move there and do whatever it takes to defend them. When they don’t have a country they wont need any laws, lawyers or judges. I won’t say I told you so even though I told you so, long ago.
17 May, 2011 at 11:57 am
“their movement”, the progressives!
17 May, 2011 at 12:05 pm
**** Kentucky, throw them out of the union!
17 May, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Couple this with the Indiana S.C. Ruling you posted on the other day and there is effectively no 4th amendment any more. This is truly concerning.
17 May, 2011 at 12:15 pm
You have recourse, reject and ridicule modern law and politics. Disassociate yourself from all their ventures. Start making friends and forming groups among the same. The country needs its citizens more than the citizens need these people. They have no power without the backing of the people.
17 May, 2011 at 12:19 pm
If you trust these people you may be at work one day when a plane busts though your window and explodes on your desk bringing the whole frigging building down.
17 May, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Remember, you as an American have no more rights than the terrorist that was just busted in on overseas. Just sayin.
17 May, 2011 at 12:48 pm
The police have taken up residence in middle class neighborhoods, not the hood. They desire anonymity above all else. So if you have fascists in your neighborhood post a sign in their front yard. Name, number, place of operation, etc etc. Fascists hiding among us must be rooted out and I see the posting of warnings as a non violent means.
Lawyers and judges are a different story, they all live behind guarded gated walls.
17 May, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I am in shock. I had to read this report twice, our police agencies are being molded into ‘Banana Republic’ police forces to do the bidding of the ruling political class, totally disregarding the rule of law our precious rights that so many have given their lives for in wars past.
17 May, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Citizens are supposed to have rights, slaves have no rights at all. They can feel the rumblings and grumblings of the American citizen slave coming from all over the country and they are worried. This is a lot bigger than an LA riot. They must feel as if its 1773 and they are British, LOL, they should. The more things change the more things stay the same.
18 May, 2011 at 7:04 am
If the police already had evidence for the search warrant, why the concern for more evidence they did not have yet? Or are we not supposed to use public school taught ‘critical thinking’ unless told to use it? Sounds more like a fishing license than a search warrant.
When the referees (aka judges) are corrupt or incompetent, it becomes very hard to win at the game.
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.
18 May, 2011 at 11:22 am
Not long ago the DC military was kicking in doors in Iraq and the response was outrage, they were Pol Pot, Nazis and such. Evidently the supreme count, the lords on high, support Pol pot, Hitler, and such. It couldn’t be more clear. And after 9-11 we thought they would stop at sticking their finger up our anus or playing with some unsuspecting little boys willie. While we are stomping on the Constitution why not just disband the courts, no one needs a warrant and they have already declared us all guilty. A huge waste of funds.