When Can Police Enter Suspects' Homes?

The Supreme Court recently heard oral argument in Lange v. California. The case asks whether a police officer violated the Fourth Amendment when he entered the garage of a person suspected of a misdemeanor crime without a warrant while in “hot pursuit” of him. Professor Jeffrey Fisher of Stanford University, who argued the case on behalf of Arthur Lange, and professor Donald Dripps of the University of San Diego Law School, a Fourth Amendment and criminal procedure expert, join host Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the case and its potential implications for policing, privacy, the Fourth Amendment, and more.

Some terms that will be helpful to know for this week (definitions adapted from Legal Information Institute):

-Warrantless entry: when a police officer enters a private residence without a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate that would allow the police officer to search a specified place for evidence even without the occupant’s consent

-Hot pursuit: exception to the general rule that police officers need a warrant before they can enter a home to make an arrest. Current case law states that if a felony has just occurred and an officer has chased a suspect to a private house, the officer can forcefully enter the house in order to prevent the suspect from escaping or hiding or destroying evidence.

-Exigent circumstances: exceptions to the general requirement of a warrant under the Fourth Amendment searches and seizures

Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library

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