The Supreme Court ruled this week that police can conduct warrantless searches on a property if one of the tenants consents. The 6–3 vote stems from a 2009 Los Angeles case involving robbery suspect Walter Fernandez, who refused to let police inside his home. Noticing that his girlfriend was bloodied and bruised, officers removed Fernandez on suspicion of domestic abuse, and were then let in by his girlfriend. Fernandez’s lawyers argued that their client was protected from the warrantless search under the Fourth Amendment, but justices ruled that when one of the tenants is absent, another one is free to make the decision—even if police are the ones who removed the objecting tenant.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Will California's EV mandate survive Trump, SCOTUS challenge?Today's Big Question The Golden State's climate goal faces big obstacles
-
'Underneath the noise, however, there’s an existential crisis'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
2024: the year of distrust in scienceIn the Spotlight Science and politics do not seem to mix
