cycleguy2300
TGT Addict
THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s question concerns an important
real-world problem. Today, more than ever, many people,
including many elderly persons, live alone.3 Many elderly
men and women fall in their homes,4 or become incapaci-
tated for other reasons, and unfortunately, there are many
cases in which such persons cannot call for assistance. In
those cases, the chances for a good recovery may fade with
each passing hour.5 So in THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s imaginary
case, if the elderly woman was seriously hurt or sick and
the police heeded petitioner’s suggestion about what the
Fourth Amendment demands, there is a fair chance she
would not be found alive. This imaginary woman may have
regarded her house as her castle, but it is doubtful that she
would have wanted it to be the place where she died alone
and in agony.
Our current precedents do not address situations like
this. We have held that the police may enter a home with-
out a warrant when there are “exigent circumstances.”
Payton v. New York, 445 U. S. 573, 590 (1980). But circum-
stances are exigent only when there is not enough time to
get a warrant, see Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U. S. 141, 149
(2013); Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U. S. 499, 509 (1978), and
warrants are not typically granted for the purpose of check-
ing on a person’s medical condition. Perhaps States should
institute procedures for the issuance of such warrants, but
—————— 3Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Census, The Rise of Living Alone,
Fig. HH–4 (2020), https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/
library /visualizations/time-series/demo/families-and-households/hh-4.pdf;
Ortiz-Ospina, The Rise of Living Alone (Dec. 10, 2019), https://our-
worldindata.org/living-alone; Smith, Cities With the Most Adults Living
Alone (May 4, 2020), https://www.self.inc/blog/adults-living-alone. 4See B. Moreland, R. Kakara, & A. Henry, Trends in Nonfatal Falls
and Fall-Related Injuries Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years—United States,
2012–2018, 69 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Rep. 875 (2020). 5See, e.g., J. Gurley, N. Lum, M. Sande, B. Lo, & M. Katz, Persons
Found in Their Homes Helpless or Dead, 334 New Eng. J. Med. 1710
(1996).
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real-world problem. Today, more than ever, many people,
including many elderly persons, live alone.3 Many elderly
men and women fall in their homes,4 or become incapaci-
tated for other reasons, and unfortunately, there are many
cases in which such persons cannot call for assistance. In
those cases, the chances for a good recovery may fade with
each passing hour.5 So in THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s imaginary
case, if the elderly woman was seriously hurt or sick and
the police heeded petitioner’s suggestion about what the
Fourth Amendment demands, there is a fair chance she
would not be found alive. This imaginary woman may have
regarded her house as her castle, but it is doubtful that she
would have wanted it to be the place where she died alone
and in agony.
Our current precedents do not address situations like
this. We have held that the police may enter a home with-
out a warrant when there are “exigent circumstances.”
Payton v. New York, 445 U. S. 573, 590 (1980). But circum-
stances are exigent only when there is not enough time to
get a warrant, see Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U. S. 141, 149
(2013); Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U. S. 499, 509 (1978), and
warrants are not typically granted for the purpose of check-
ing on a person’s medical condition. Perhaps States should
institute procedures for the issuance of such warrants, but
—————— 3Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Census, The Rise of Living Alone,
Fig. HH–4 (2020), https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/
library /visualizations/time-series/demo/families-and-households/hh-4.pdf;
Ortiz-Ospina, The Rise of Living Alone (Dec. 10, 2019), https://our-
worldindata.org/living-alone; Smith, Cities With the Most Adults Living
Alone (May 4, 2020), https://www.self.inc/blog/adults-living-alone. 4See B. Moreland, R. Kakara, & A. Henry, Trends in Nonfatal Falls
and Fall-Related Injuries Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years—United States,
2012–2018, 69 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Rep. 875 (2020). 5See, e.g., J. Gurley, N. Lum, M. Sande, B. Lo, & M. Katz, Persons
Found in Their Homes Helpless or Dead, 334 New Eng. J. Med. 1710
(1996).
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