WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a Kentucky man who was arrested after police burst into his apartment without a search warrant because they smelled marijuana and feared he was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.
Voting 8-1, the justices reversed a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that threw out the evidence gathered when officers entered Hollis King’s apartment. The court said there was no violation of King’s constitutional rights because police acted reasonably. Only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
Officers knocked on King’s door in Lexington and thought they heard noises that indicated the occupants were trying to get rid of evidence.
Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court that people have no obligation to respond to the knock or to allow police officers inside. In those cases, officers who wanted to gain entry would have to persuade a judge to issue a search warrant. But, Alito said: “Occupants who choose not to stand on their constitutional rights but instead elect to attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame.”
In her dissent, Ginsburg said her colleagues were giving police an easy way to routinely avoid getting warrants in drug cases. “Police officers may now knock, listen, then break the door down — never mind that they had ample time to obtain a warrant,” she said.
In other court action Monday, justices refused to revive a lawsuit challenging a controversial post-Sept. 11 CIA program that flew terrorism suspects to secret prisons.
The justices also turned aside a challenge from atheist Michael Newdow to the use of the words “so help me God” in the presidential oath of office.
More decisions
Other court action Monday:
• Revival denied: The court refused to revive a lawsuit challenging a controversial post-Sept. 11 CIA program that flew terrorism suspects to secret prisons. The high court has refused several other appeals based on the government’s invocation of state secrets to derail lawsuits.
• Oath upheld: The justices turned aside a challenge from atheist Michael Newdow to the use of the words “so help me God” in the presidential oath of office.
• Lawsuit ruling: In a case involving the federal whistle-blower law, the justices voted 5-3 in ruling that information acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request cannot be used to trigger a False Claims Act lawsuit.
