In his 1985 book Takings , University of Chicago Law Professor Richard Epstein wrote that Private property gives the right to exclude others without the need for any justification. Indeed, it is the ability to act at will and without need for justification within some domain which is the essence of freedom, be it of speech or of property. And for those areas that are sufficiently fenced in, the Supreme Court had blessed low-level helicopter flights to search for any illicit plants on the ground. The Supreme Court decision, which has been cited in over 600 subsequent federal and state court decisions, nullified hundreds of years of common-law precedents limiting the power of government agents. In a raid outside Elba, N.Y., at least one INS agent opened fire on fleeing farm workers.
Police also possess the right to destroy property they search.
The damage resulted from a single, isolated incidence of alleged negligence. Renters fare even worse. Park Forest, Ill. in 1994 enacted an ordinance that authorizes warrantless searches of every single-family rental home by a city inspector or police officer, Mr. Bovard continues, who are authorized to invade rental units at all reasonable times. No limit was placed on the power of the inspectors to search through people s homes, and tenants were prohibited from denying entry to government agents. Federal Judge Joan Gottschall struck down the searches as unconstitutional in February 1998, but her decision will have little or no effect on the numerous other localities that authorize similar invasions of privacy.