Roe v. Wade was a warmup. Time to overturn Hester v. United States. Can y'all hear the Freedom ringing?
The Administrative State is full of unaccountable bullies who need a time out.
Federal Leviathan has just gotten too damned big for its britches. It may be Whack-a-Mole, but we the people need to whack each damned mole as it appears, no matter how sore our shoulders get from taking righteous action to perfect the Union.
Next on the chopping block is a terrible decision dating back to 5 May 1924. The Supreme Court decided to shoot a cannonball through the heart of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments by allowing illegally obtained evidence into the court record.
A SCOTUS BOGO, if you will allow me the indulgence.
In their eagerness to support tax agents concerned with cash from booze making, the Supremes said it was just swell for revenue agents to enter Mr. Hester’s property without a warrant, hide in the trees fifty yards from his house and observe him leave his front door with what could have been jugs of whiskey. They witnessed him hand a quart bottle of said liquid to a Mr. Henderson, after which the revenue agents shouted, started shooting (are you sensing a pattern with trigger-happy Federal agents yet?) and eventually collected a broken bottle with a little bit of whiskey still in it. Because Leviathan throws a temper tantrum whenever its arbitrary dictates are ignored, the SCOTUS decided for no reason they have ever made clear why a person’s private property only matters if it has a roof over it, so the “Open Fields Doctrine” was created out of thin air.
Ever since, Federal agents have felt free to trespass on private property. This nonsense has to end.
There is a current legal battle going on to restore rights to property owners. Have a listen and consider donating to the Institute for Justice in their fight on your behalf.
The Institute for Justice is going to bat against the illegal actions of game wardens in Louisiana.
Tom Manuel is a forester who owns timberland in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. First and foremost, the land is part of his private forestry business/tree farm. Similar to most non-industrial, private forest owners, Tom also manages the property for wildlife conservation, recreation, and multiple other uses as well.
https://ij.org/case/louisiana-open-fi...
When his kids were young, his family spent time on the property learning about tree farming, hunting, camping, and riding four-wheelers. Tom, an avid outdoorsman, also enjoys hunting on the land. And the land is marked accordingly: Boundaries are fenced and painted, entrances are gated and posted. It’s a private place—and Tom wants to keep it that way.
But Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) game wardens have other ideas in mind. Twice in December 2023, they entered Tom’s land without consent, a warrant, or probable cause and confronted first him and then his brother. They were interrogated but both were complying with hunting laws and neither was given a citation.
The game wardens think they have unlimited power to invade private land under an old Supreme Court rule called the “open fields doctrine.” The rule says that the U.S. Constitution’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures do not extend to land outside the immediate area around a home. B
ut the wardens are ignoring that the Louisiana Constitution is different—it protects all “property” from warrantless searches. To vindicate his property rights for himself and all other users of private property in Louisiana, Tom has partnered with IJ to file a suit in Louisiana state court that aims to put a stop to these warrantless intrusions once and for all.
Vote accordingly.