Writing for the unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan said police had no right to enter the man's home without a warrant for such a trivial offense.
The unanimous ruling overturned lower courts that said a Crow police officer should not have held a nontribal member who was found to have drugs and weapons in his truck.
The lower courts ruled that police could enter the home and under the so-called the community care-taking exception to the Constitution's warrant requirement. Representing Edward Caniglia, lawyer Shay Dvoretzky said that an exception like that would "eviscerate" the warrant protections of the Fourth Amendment.
The court determined that in order to sue for excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, it is not necessary for a plaintiff to have been physically seized by law enforcement.
Some justices expressed concern about public safety if tribal officers lacked power to stop and detain non-Native Americans. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wondered what would happen if an officer encountered a known serial killer.
The Supreme Court said in an 8-1 decision that unless there's reason to believe otherwise, it's common sense for an officer to think the car's owner will be driving.
In a 5-4 vote on Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld a Wisconsin law that says people driving on a public road have impliedly consented to having their blood drawn if police suspect them of driving under the influence. It also said that "exigent circumstances" permit police to obtain a blood sample without a warrant.
Some agencies have policies and training that are not current with the law.
The Supreme Court has ruled that you can't detain someone who has left the immediate vicinity of the premises where you plan to execute a search warrant, just because you are executing the warrant.
“You can think of it,” Justice Elena Kagan said, “as a case where an individual police officer, you know, decides to arrest for jaywalking somebody wearing a ‘Black Lives Matter’ T-shirt or, alternatively, a ‘Make America Great Again’ cap.”
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