Supreme Court OKs warrantless searches

The U.S. Supreme Court, voting as usual to weaken Constitutional protections to carry out the all-important War on Drugs, ruled 8-1 Monday that police don't need a warrant to kick down a door and come in if they smell pot, knock, announce themselves and hear that they think is the sound of evidence being destroyed, the New York Times reports. Note that there is no disagreement between the "liberals" on the court and the "conservatives."

The only dissent came from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, quoted in the Times account.

“The court today arms the police with a way routinely to dishonor the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement in drug cases,” Ginsburg wrote. “In lieu of presenting their evidence to a neutral magistrate, police officers may now knock, listen, then break the door down, never mind that they had ample time to obtain a warrant.”