| The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police officers in Utah who searched a suspect's home without a warrant cannot be sued for violating his constitutional rights.pIn ruling unanimously for five officers attached to the Central Utah Narcotics Task Force, the court also abandoned a rigid, two-step test that it adopted in 2001 to guide judges in assessing alleged violations of constitutional rights./ppTrial and appellate judges should be permitted to exercise their sound discretion in evaluating such claims, Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court./ppUnder the 2001 ruling, courts first had to determine whether an action amounts to a violation of a constitutional right and then decide whether the public official, often a police officer, should be immune from the civil lawsuit./ppOfficials can't be held liable in situations where it is not clearly established that their actions violated someone's constitutional rights./ppThe case grew out of a search of the home of Afton Callahan of Millard County, Utah, in 2002./ppAn informant contacted police to tell them he had arranged to purchase drugs from Callahan at Callahan's trailer home./p |
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