Name: 'Everything Has Been Criminalized,' Says Neil Gorsuch as He Pushes for Stronger Fourth Amendment Protections
Brand: reason.com
SKU: reason-com-362
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

'Everything Has Been Criminalized,' Says Neil Gorsuch as He Pushes for Stronger Fourth Amendment Protections

preview

In 2019, the California Court of Appeal, 1st Appellate District, that a police officer may always enter a suspect's home without a warrant if the officer is in pursuit of the suspect and has probable cause to believe that the suspect has committed a misdemeanor. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether that ruling should be overturned.Justice Neil Gorsuch seemed to have a problem with the lower court's decision. Under the common law, Gorsuch pointed out during in Lange v. California, the police did not "have the power to enter the home in pursuit of any and all misdemeanor crimes." The framers of the Fourth Amendment built on that common law understanding. So "why would we create a rule that is less protective than what everyone understands to be the case of the Fourth Amendment as original matter?"Gorsuch also seemed to have a problem with California's argument that an officer in pursuit of a suspected felon should always be able to follow that suspect into the home without a warrant. It is "settled," argued California Deputy Solicitor General Samuel Harbourt, "that officers may enter a home without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe a fleeing suspect has committed a felony."Gorsuch offered a different view. "We live in a world in which everything has been criminalized. And some professors have even opined that there's not an American alive who hasn't committed a felony in some—under some state law," Gorsuch told the state's lawyer. "And in a world like that, why doesn't it make sense to retreat back to the original meaning of the Fourth Amendment, which I'm going to oversimplify, but generally says that you get to go into a home without a warrant if the officer sees a violent action or something that's likely to lead to imminent violence….Why isn't that the right approach?"In other words, since plenty of felonies do not involve violence, why should the police get to categorically evade the Fourth Amendment in such non-violent felony pursuit cases?Because the common law allowed the police to pursue felons into the home, Harbourt argued in reply.But "what qualified as a felony at common law," Gorsuch countered, "were very few crimes and they were all punished by the death penalty usually." By contrast, Gorsuch stressed, "today pretty much anything or everything can be called a felony."In short, under Gorsuch's view, the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement would only be waived in such cases if the police were pursuing someone suspected of committing a genuinely violent or dangerous crime, a category that necessarily excludes a great many suspected misdemeanants and felons. If adopted by the Supreme Court, that approach would limit police power in these sorts of cases.The justice weighs in during oral arguments in Lange v. California.The proposed bill from Assembly Members Evan Low and Cristina Garcia would require stores to have one unisex section for children's products and apparel.Do small businesses need another punch in the gut?The governors of New York and California have botched major aspects of the pandemic response.The justices did not address one of James King's key arguments, which the 6th Circuit will now consider.

In 2019, the California Court of Appeal, 1st Appellate District, that a police officer may always enter a suspect's home without a warrant if the officer is in pursuit of the suspect and has probable cause to believe that the suspect has committed a misdemeanor. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether that ruling should be overturned.Justice Neil Gorsuch seemed to have a problem with the lower court's decision. Under the common law, Gorsuch pointed out during in Lange v. California, the police did not "have the power to enter the home in pursuit of any and all misdemeanor...

public

Damon Root

Reason is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 50,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune. Reason was founded in 1968 by Lanny Friedlander (1947–2011), a student at Boston University, as a more-or-less monthly mimeographed publication. In 1970 it was purchased by Robert W. Poole Jr., Manuel S. Klausner, and Tibor R. Machan, who set it on a more regular publishing schedule.

'Everything Has Been Criminalized,' Says Neil Gorsuch as He Pushes for Stronger Fourth Amendment Protections

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS