The question
Whether the objective reasonableness standard for warrantless home entries to render emergency aid applies as stated in Brigham City v. Stuart, or should be recast in terms of reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
Case v. Montana
What the Court decided
Affirmed. The Court held that Brigham City's objective reasonableness standard for warrantless home entries to render emergency aid applies without further gloss, and that the officers here satisfied it. The Court declined to recast the standard as either reasonable suspicion or probable cause, reasoning that probable cause is tied to criminal investigations and fits poorly in the non-investigatory emergency-aid setting. The officers had an objectively reasonable basis to believe entry was needed to prevent Case from ending his life.
How the justices split
UnanimousThe Court's opinion
Kagan, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, Jackson
The emergency-aid exception to the warrant requirement is governed by Brigham City's objective reasonableness standard, which asks whether an officer had an objectively reasonable basis for believing that entry was needed to prevent or address serious harm. The Court rejected both the reasonable suspicion framing used in Montana's caretaker doctrine and Case's proposed probable-cause framing, holding that probable cause is peculiarly related to criminal investigations and fits awkwardly in the non-criminal emergency-aid setting. Applying that standard, the officers had an objectively reasonable basis to believe entry was needed to prevent Case from ending his life.
Concurring
Sotomayor, writing alone
Justice Sotomayor filed a concurring opinion. The syllabus does not state its reasoning.
Concurring
Gorsuch, writing alone
Justice Gorsuch filed a concurring opinion. The syllabus does not state its reasoning.
How we know · 5 sourced claims
The Court held that Brigham City's objective reasonableness standard for warrantless home entries to render emergency aid applies without further gloss and was satisfied in this case.
Source: syllabus, Held
The Court declined to recast the emergency-aid standard in terms of probable cause, noting that probable cause is peculiarly related to criminal investigations.
Source: syllabus, Held
The officers had an objectively reasonable basis for believing that entry was needed to prevent Case from ending his life.
Source: syllabus, Held
Kagan, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Source: syllabus, lineup
Sotomayor, J., and Gorsuch, J., filed concurring opinions.
Source: syllabus, lineup