Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-157_8mjp.pdf
Page Number: 11

4 

CANIGLIA v. STROM 

ALITO, J., concurring 

THE  CHIEF  JUSTICE’s  question  concerns  an  important 
real-world problem.  Today, more than ever, many people,
including many elderly persons, live alone.3  Many elderly
men  and  women  fall  in  their  homes,4  or  become  incapaci-
tated for other reasons, and unfortunately, there are many 
cases in which such persons cannot call for assistance.  In 
those cases, the chances for a good recovery may fade with 
each passing hour.5  So in THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s imaginary
case,  if  the  elderly  woman  was  seriously  hurt  or  sick  and
the  police  heeded  petitioner’s  suggestion  about  what  the
Fourth  Amendment  demands,  there  is  a  fair  chance  she 
would not be found alive.  This imaginary woman may have 
regarded her house as her castle, but it is doubtful that she
would have wanted it to be the place where she died alone
and in agony.

Our  current  precedents  do  not  address  situations  like 
this.  We have held that the police may enter a home with-
out  a  warrant  when  there  are  “exigent  circumstances.” 
Payton v. New York, 445 U. S. 573, 590 (1980).  But circum-
stances are exigent only when there is not enough time to 
get a warrant, see Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U. S. 141, 149 
(2013);  Michigan  v.  Tyler,  436  U. S.  499,  509  (1978),  and 
warrants are not typically granted for the purpose of check-
ing on a person’s medical condition.  Perhaps States should
institute procedures for the issuance of such warrants, but 

—————— 

3 Dept.  of  Commerce,  Bureau  of  Census,  The  Rise  of  Living  Alone, 
Fig.  HH–4 
(2020),  https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/
library /visualizations/time-series/demo/families-and-households/hh-4.pdf; 
Ortiz-Ospina,  The  Rise  of  Living  Alone  (Dec.  10,  2019),  https://our-
worldindata.org/living-alone; Smith, Cities With the Most Adults Living
Alone (May 4, 2020), https://www.self.inc/blog/adults-living-alone. 

4 See B. Moreland, R. Kakara, & A. Henry, Trends in Nonfatal Falls
and Fall-Related Injuries Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years—United States, 
2012–2018, 69 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Rep. 875 (2020). 

5 See,  e.g.,  J.  Gurley,  N.  Lum,  M.  Sande,  B.  Lo,  &  M.  Katz,  Persons  
Found  in  Their  Homes  Helpless  or  Dead,  334  New  Eng.  J.  Med.  1710 
(1996).