The court is moving to curtain warrantless searches of vechicles close to a residence….
They are extending to right of home privacy to those vechicles in a driveway or parked in front of a home….
It is the second major ruling on this and both are by wide margins….
In a decision that’s been hailed as a big win for privacy rights, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that police officers must generally have a warrant before searching vehicles parked at a private home or on its surrounding property.
It’s the second time this month that the country’s highest federal court has set new limits on police searches of vehicles. On May 14, the Supreme Court ruled that unauthorized drivers of rental cars, whose names are not on the rental agreement, should generally be afforded the same privacy protections as authorized drivers.
In Tuesday’s 8-1 ruling, the court sided with Ryan Collins, a Virginia man who accused police of impinging upon his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure when an officer walked onto his girlfriend’s driveway in 2013 and pulled back a tarp covering his motorcycle. The officer, who did not have a warrant, ran a search of the license plate on the bike and discovered it was stolen. Collins was arrested and later convicted of possessing stolen property.
Collins, however, accused the officer of improperly searching the motorcycle, which was parked a few feet away from his girlfriend’s home. His attorneys argued that the Fourth Amendment applies to private homes and also to areas surrounding them ― known in legalese as “curtilage” ― and the officer violated this right in his search…..
After reading the case, I find myself more in agreement with Alitoa dissent.
Yo Jack?
The call was 8-1 to extend the protection
You disagree with the super majority!
Why?