"Knock-Knock" ... "Who's There?": The Fourth Amendment Dilemma Posed by Warrantless Police Encounters at Home

Authors

Meg Penrose, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2023

Journal Title

George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal

ISSN

1049-4766

Abstract

In a world where police abuses of power seem more common, where are the judges-particularly the originalist judges-who strive to protect the Founder's intentions? How is it that people living in certain states seemingly have less robust Fourth Amendment protections than others? This essay seeks to answer these questions and urges the Supreme Court to reassert its constitutional commitment to the Fourth Amendment so that all of us are, in fact, secure in our homes. The Court should accept the responsibility it has to provide uniform protection to all Americans and clarify the limits on constructive entry. If the Court does not intervene, the "knock-knock" quandary raised above could make the strength of a person's Fourth Amendment rights dependent on their willingness to ignore armed police activity outside their doorway and their fortitude to suffer the consequences of taking that risk. This should not be the case. The Founders promised us-through Constitutional text-we would be secure in our homes. Law enforcement shouldn't be able to circumvent Constitutional text, or the warrant requirement, through constructive entry.

First Page

305

Last Page

324

Num Pages

20

Volume Number

33

Issue Number

3

Publisher

George Mason University School of Law

Recommended Citation

Meg Penrose, "Knock-Knock" ... "Who's There?": The Fourth Amendment Dilemma Posed by Warrantless Police Encounters at Home, 33 Geo. Mason U. C.R. L.J. 305 (2023).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/2191

File Type

PDF