The End Is Near

You think those two recent Supreme Court appointments will have an impact? It has begun. For over 40 years the "exclusionary rule" has been in effect. That is, if the police break the law in searching or arresting you, any evidence they find as a result of that breach will be excluded from evidence and cannot be used against a defendant. It's a hard and fast rule. Until today. Even though your Supreme Court has said that the constitution requires police to "knock and announce" their presence when executing a search warrant, the Court held today (in a 5-4 decision) that a violation of that particular rule won't require any evidence found to be excluded. Why? Because they say so. That is, Alito, Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas say so. The case was Booker T. Hudson v. Michigan. Come to think about, the defendant probably lost once the five justices saw his name was "Booker T."