IJ and Alabama Residents Take On Warrantless Trespassing On Private Land
Dalton Boley, Regina Williams, and Dale Liles own land in northern Alabama. These properties are more than just assets—they’re refuges. Regina has lived on her land her entire life, and she lets Dalton, her next-door neighbor, use her 10 acres to play and camp with his three little boys. Meanwhile, Dale uses his 86 acres to hunt with his grandchildren. These are private places. Indeed, they’re marked at all entrances with “no trespassing” signs. Yet Alabama game wardens have invaded these properties several times—without any warrant.
Officers from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) routinely trespass onto private land—without consent, a warrant, or any reason to suspect a hunting violation has occurred—to conduct exploratory searches. They ignore fences, gates, and “no trespassing” signs, treating private land like public property. And all of this is purportedly authorized by an Alabama statute.
Alabama’s warrantless entry statute reflects a federal rule called the “open fields” doctrine. A century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court wrongly held that private land (except the tiny ring of land around your home) deserves no Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches. 1 But, whatever the U.S. Supreme Court says about the federal Constitution, the Alabama Constitution demands more. It expressly protects “possessions,” and land is a possession. Thus, Dalton, Regina and Dale have joined forces with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to strike down Alabama game wardens’ warrantless entry powers so that all Alabamians may be secure on their own land.
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