RIGHT OF ENTRY

Supreme Court: Police Don't Need Warrant

Uphold warrantless entry where police followed pot smell.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police were within their rights to enter the home of a Kentucky man after the police smelled marijuana. Police in Lexington, Ky., said they burst into Hollis King’s apartment because they smelled marijuana and were afraid he was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence, and they subsequently arrested King. The Kentucky Supreme Court had sided with King, and the higher court voted 8-1 to overturn the lower court’s decision, with Ruth Bader Ginsberg as the sole dissenter. Writing for the majority, Samuel Alito said people have no obligation to respond to a police officer’s knock, but “occupants who choose not to stand on their constitutional rights but instead elect to attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame.”