We Dare Defend Our Rights
Posted by ReactionaryIt appears to me that a Huntsville City Ordinance is Unconstitutional. Check it out…
Huntsville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 7 Buildings and Building Regulations, Article V Minimum Housing Standards, Division 2 Administration and Enforcement, Section 7-344 Right of Entry states:
(a) The housing official shall enforce the provision of this article; and he, or his duly authorized representative, upon presentation of proper identification to the owner, agent or tenant in charge of such property, may enter any building, structure, dwelling, apartment, apartment house or premises, during all reasonable hours, except in cases of emergency where extreme hazards are known to exist which may involve the potential loss of life or severe property damage, in which case these limitations do not apply.
I saw that, and like you, I immediately thought that my Fourth Amendment Right to be secure in my house against unreasonable search was being violated. And I hate that!
Well, turns out that the US Supreme Court decided in Camara vs Municipal Court, 387 US 523 (1967), that a City needs a warrant to enter your house for any reason (in that case, housing inspection), unless it’s on fire or something.
The Code that was ruled Unconstitutional reads very much like the Huntsville Code:
“Sec. 503 RIGHT TO ENTER BUILDING. Authorized employees of the City departments or City agencies, so far as may be necessary for the performance of their duties, shall, upon presentation of proper credentials, have the right to enter, at reasonable times, any building, structure, or premises in the City to perform any duty imposed upon them by the Municipal Code.”
The Supreme Court Opinion:
In summary, we hold that administrative searches of the kind at issue here are significant intrusions upon the interests protected by the Fourth Amendment, that such searches when authorized and conducted without a warrant procedure lack the traditional safeguards which the Fourth Amendment guarantees to the individual, and that the reasons put forth in Frank v. Maryland and in other cases for upholding these warrantless searches are insufficient to justify so substantial a weakening of the Fourth Amendment’s protections.
I call on Mayor Spencer and the Huntsville City Council to uphold the Constitution! Change the odious ordinance!
DEVELOPING:
I called an attorney friend to see if my interpretation of the ordinance was off-base. These guys love my calls, because I come up with totally random pieces of law that need explaining - which to a lawyer, is fun.
He says that the ordinance may appear “Constitutionally infirm on its face”, but that if the City procedure is to get a warrant if a homeowner refuses entry to the City housing official, then it may be Constitutional.
I still don’t like the way the ordinance is written. Next stop, City Attorney.
UPDATE:
The City Attorney says that the Section of Code is supposed to apply ONLY to construction projects, but that he will review it over the next week. If that is true, then it’s OK, reasonable public interest in a construction site outweighs privacy. But then we’re left with a question: What is the enforcement mechanism for the rest of that section of Code? And why is the Code so poorly written? It almost seems like the City doesn’t want people to understand it…
While I’m writing about a City issue, I would like to praise City of Huntsville employees for their cooperation, professionalism, and niceness; not only for this, but in just about any contacts I’ve had with the City.
Thankfully the City Attorney’s snakebite is better, but he won’t ever again have the use of part of his hand. He got bitten by a copperhead on a shelf in his garage. Look before you reach. Be careful out there.
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September 3rd, 2008 at 11:03 am
Hsv Police reports lately have a common phrase. “We conducted a ‘knock and talk””
Translated as we knocked the door down and came in and talked .