[ExI] SCOTUS Weakens 4th Amendment

[Stuart LaForge]

It is not surprising that the news media has been silent about the 
January 2026 SCOTUS ruling in Case vs. Montana. The 9-0 ruling 
effectively undermines the 4th Amendment protections against 
unreasonable searches and seizures.

https://nccriminallaw.sog.unc.edu/2026/02/02/case-v-montana-attempts-to-clarify-the-emergency-aid-exception-to-the-warrant-requirement/

It effectively allows "Emergency Aid Doctrine" to effectively nullify 
probable cause and search warrants in order to enter a home. It gives 
police the option to replace the old standard of "probable cause" and 
getting a search warrant to look for specific things" with a new 
standard of an "objectively reasonable basis for believing that an 
occupant is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such 
injury".

The story is that a man named William Case who lived in Montana had a 
home, a gun, and a girlfriend. Case became depressed or pissed off his 
girl friend or something because she called the police and said that he 
was depressed and she was worried about him because he had a gun and she 
hadn't heard from him in a while. So the police valiantly go to his 
house and knock on his door announce that they are the police and they 
are there a welfare check to make sure he is not harming himself. Case, 
although home, does not answer. The police notice his pickup in the 
driveway so they are sure they are home. They look in a window and see a 
piece of paper on a table that "looked like a suicide note".

This prompts the police to go into "emergency mode". They decide they 
are going to kick down William Case's door to rescue him. But then they 
remember that his girlfriend said that he has a gun. So they call for 
backup, don their body armor, get out their assault rifles and shotguns 
and then 40 minutes later, they finally kick down William Case's door. 
Meanwhile, the terrified William Case hides in his bedroom closet. The 
police make entry and do a room by room sweep of the William Case's 
house probably looking through his cabinets, drawers, and closets for 
narcotics and other contraband when they come across his hiding spot. 
The police officer who found William and shot him said it looked like he 
was holding a gun and that teh officer feared for his own life." There 
was a handgun that recovered from near where William was standing. 
William Case was charged and convicted of assaulting a police officer 
who broke into his home without a warrant. He obviously lost on appeal.

So now the police get to enter and search your home for free and charge 
you for anything illegal that they find, if you don't check in with your 
girlfriend everyday. This has got to be one of the worst SCOTUS rulings 
since Dredd Scott and the overturning of Roe v Wade. And the fact that 
it was unanimous tells me this is a bipartisan attack on the 
Constitution and sends a clear signal to law enforcement to turn the USA 
into a dystopian police state.

Stuart LaForge