Is it Legal for Police to Enter an Attached Garage Without a Warrant to Arrest a Drug Trafficker?

Nowhere is the protective force of the Fourth Amendment more powerful than it is when the sanctity of the home is involved. The sanctity of a person’s home, perhaps our last real retreat in this technological age, lies at the very core of the rights which animate the amendment. Therefore, we have been adamant in our demand that absent exigent circumstances a warrant will be required before a person’s home is invaded by the authorities.

We can conceive of no reason to distinguish a garage, where people spend time, work, and store their possessions, from a den or a kitchen, where people spend time, work, and store their possessions. Simply put, a person’s garage is as much a part of his castle as the rest of his home.

Read full case here: U.S. v. Oaxaca, 233 F.3d 1154, 1157 (9th Cir. 2000), https://casetext.com/case/usa-v-oaxaca