Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-157_8mjp.pdf
Page Number: 10

Cite as:  593 U. S. ____ (2021) 

3 

ALITO, J., concurring 

call features of these laws into question.  The Court appro-
priately refrains from doing so.

4.  This case also implicates another body of law that pe-
titioner glossed over: the so-called “red flag” laws that some 
States are now enacting.  These laws enable the police to 
seize guns pursuant to a court order to prevent their use for 
suicide or the infliction of harm on innocent persons.  See, 
e.g.,  Cal.  Penal  Code  Ann.  §§18125–18148  (West  Cum.
Supp.  2021);  Fla.  Stat.  §790.401(4)  (Cum.  Supp.  2021);
Mass. Gen. Laws Ann., ch. 140, §131T (2021).  They typi-
cally specify the standard that must be met and the proce-
dures that must be followed before firearms may be seized. 
Provisions  of  red  flag  laws  may  be  challenged  under  the
Fourth Amendment, and those cases may come before us. 
Our decision today does not address those issues.

5.  One additional category of cases should be noted: those
involving  warrantless,  nonconsensual  searches  of  a  home
for the purpose of ascertaining whether a resident is in ur-
gent  need  of  medical  attention  and  cannot  summon  help.
At  oral  argument,  THE  CHIEF  JUSTICE  posed  a  question 
that highlighted this problem.  He imagined a situation in
which neighbors of an elderly woman call the police and ex-
press concern because the woman had agreed to come over 
for  dinner  at  6  p.m.,  but  by  8  p.m.,  had  not  appeared  or 
called  even  though  she  was  never  late  for  anything.    The 
woman had not been seen leaving her home, and she was
not  answering  the  phone.    Nor  could  the  neighbors  reach 
her relatives by phone.  If the police entered the home with-
out a warrant to see if she needed help, would that violate
the Fourth Amendment?  Tr. of Oral Arg. 6–8.

Petitioner’s answer was that it would.  Indeed, he argued,
even if 24 hours went by, the police still could not lawfully 
enter  without  a  warrant.    If  the  situation  remained  un-
changed for several days, he suggested, the police might be 
able to enter after obtaining “a warrant for a missing per-
son.”  Id., at 9.