Giving Fourth Amendment protection to balconies

Sep 07, 2011 Giving Fourth Amendment protection to balconies

Bill of Rights. (From the public domain.)

Generally, overnight guests and others with closer ties to a home have Fourth Amendment rights against warrantless searches of balconies on the second floor or higher. Moreover, where the occupants of said balconies have no reason to expect police to come up the balcony or otherwise into the home, no exigency exists for the police to so enter without a valid warrant. McGurk v. Maryland, ___ Md. App. ___ (Sept. 7, 2011).