EDITORIAL: A chance to strengthen Fourth Amendment protections

Dozens of states accommodate a massive exception to the Fourth Amendment guarantees in the Bill of Rights. A recent case in Pennsylvania highlights the injustice and should provide impetus for legislative reform in Carson City and other state capitols. The Bill of Rights protects American citizens from “unreasonable searches and seizures” and demands that government agents secure a warrant “based upon probable cause” before embarking on such intrusions. Yet in 1924, the Supreme Court blew a gaping hole in that safeguard, ruling that the protection did not extend outside of homes and their immediate areas to privately held “open fields.” That decision has been used by game wardens and other law enforcement personnel across the country as carte blanche to enter private land without a warrant