News Release
Supreme Judicial Court to Hear Arguments on Search of Homeless Shelter
Case centers on whether or not residents of homeless shelters enjoy same constitutional rights as renters, students in dormitories.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2009
CONTACT:
Christopher Ott, Communications Director, 617-482-3170 x322, cott@aclum.org
BOSTON -- The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts will hear oral arguments Thursday in a case centered on whether residents of homeless shelters enjoy the same constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures as others.
WHAT:
Commonwealth v. Porter P. (Impounded Case) No. SJC-10383
WHEN:
Thursday, September 10, 2009, likely at or around 10:30am
(Case is fourth on the schedule for argument)
WHERE:
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
Arguments will also be webcast: http://www.suffolk.edu/sjc/
The case involves the prosecution of a juvenile based on evidence which was obtained through a warrantless search of a room in a homeless shelter where the juvenile resided with his mother. The Appeals Court held that the family, even though they were long-term residents of the shelter, had no expectation of privacy in the room where they had been required to agree that the shelter manager could enter their room for purposes of inspection, and the shelter manager had consented to the search by the police.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which participated in the case as amicus curiae, argued that endorsement of the search would consign the homeless to second-class status under the Constitution:
Homeless citizens are entitled to no less protection under the Fourth Amendment than those in our country who have housing. The failure of the Appeals Court in this case to afford the same robust Fourth Amendment and Article 14 protections to the homeless juvenile in the shelter dormitory as would be applied to students living in college dormitories creates an unacceptable and invidious classification between the rich and poor.
"Especially in today's tough economic times, which have driven more people into poverty, we must remember that the homeless still enjoy the same constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures as everyone else," said Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. "The Constitution does not distinguish between rich and poor."
-end-
