Suicide, Elder Care Raised in SCOTUS Search and Seizure Case (1)

Suicide prevention and caring for the elderly were on the minds of U.S. Supreme Court justices at oral argument, in a dispute over whether police can enter homes without warrants outside of the criminal investigation context.

The case involving a potentially suicidal man, who sued officers after they seized guns from his home, arrives at the court against the backdrop of increased law enforcement scrutiny generally as well as recent mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado.

The legal question for the court on Wednesday was whether the so-called community caretaking exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the ...