“Knock And Announce” Rule Correctly Under Fire

J.J. Jackson* | June 15, 2006

I have already started getting the emails from the tin foil hat crowd about President Bush’s “Police State” with the news today that the Supreme Court has ruled that requiring that before a legally obtained warrant can be served, the officers must “knock and announce” themselves. Bloomberg reports on this.

First of all you wacky liberals, this is not a “police state” as of now because of this. Let’s take a refresher course in the Constitution shall we? I know most of you have never read it so this will be educational.

Amendment IV:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

and for context here is James Madison’s original proposal

“The rights of the people to be secured in their persons; their houses, their papers, and their other property, from all unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated by warrants issued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, or not particularly describing the places to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized.”

You will clearly note that no where in the Constitution is it required that officers “knock and announce” themselves prior to executing a warrant contrary to what Justice “Constitutional Yummy Brain” Breyer says “The court destroys the strongest legal incentive to comply with the Constitution’s knock-and-announce requirement”.

Talk about not qualified to be on the bench! Here is a Supreme Court Justice lying about what is in the Constitution in order to decent from a completely reasonable opinion.

The “knock and announce” rule serves a specific purpose which is to act as a courtesy to the residents of a dwelling. Bloomberg sums it up nicely saying:

The Supreme Court previously said that, under the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, police seeking to enter a home generally must knock, announce their presence and wait for a period of time — perhaps as long as 15 to 20 seconds. The rule is designed to give residents a chance to open locked doors and, if necessary, put clothes on.

But it is NOT a Constitutional requirement to do so. In fact the ONLY requirements are that a warrant 1) be based upon “probable cause” 2) be “supported by Oath or affirmation”, and 3) describe specifically “the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized”.

So you?ll just have to get over it and deal with another of your fallacious ?rights? being thrown out the door.

The Federalist Papers: In Modern Language : Indexed for Today’s Political Issues

(Book)

Authors:Mary E. Webster
Manufacturer:Merril Press
Released:May, 1999

The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics (Paperback))

(Book)

Authors:Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, Clinton Rossiter, Charles R. Kesler
Manufacturer:Signet Classics
Released:01 April, 2003

Contributor's website: http://www.libertyreborn.com

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