Legal Features

Marcavage v. Lansdowne

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. — Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to protect a Pennsylvania landlord’s right to be free from a warrantless home inspection. The Borough of Lansdowne has imposed the warrantless search as a prerequisite for acquiring a license to rent other properties, a licensing scheme which was recently affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Institute attorneys argue that the ordinance imposes an “unconstitutional condition” requiring citizens to either waive their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures or surrender their fundamental private property rights.

The Rutherford Institute’s petition in Marcavage v. Lansdowne is available here.