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Police No-Knock Entry Into House Is Constitutional

2006

Police in Detroit obtained a search warrant to investigate the home of Booker Hudson. They announced their presence at his door, but failed to knock before entering. Once inside, they found a gun and drugs and, as a result, arrested Hudson. The Supreme Court decides, 5-4, in Hudson v. Michigan that the police entry was legal, albeit a “misstep.” Writing for the court, Justice Antonin Scalia argues that suppressing evidence is too high a price for the police to pay when they would have entered Hudson’s house regardless of whether they knocked.