| Payton v. New York | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued March 26, 1979 Reargued October 9, 1979 Decided April 15, 1980 | |
| Full case name | Theodore Payton et.al Petitoner-Plaintiff v. The State of New York et al. Defendant-Respondent |
| Citations | 445 U.S. 573 (more) 100 S. Ct. 1371; 63 L. Ed. 2d 639 |
| Holding | |
| The Fourth Amendment, made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibits the police from making a warrantless and nonconsensual entry into a suspect's home in order to make a routine felony arrest. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Stevens, joined by Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell |
| Concurrence | Blackmun |
| Dissent | White, joined by Burger, Rehnquist |
| Dissent | Rehnquist |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. IV | |
Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 (1980), was a United States Supreme Court case concerning warrantless entry into a private home in order to make a felony arrest. The Court struck down a New York statute providing for such warrantless entries because the Fourth Amendment draws a firm line at the entrance to the house. Absent exigent circumstances, that threshold may not be reasonably crossed without a warrant. The court, however, did specify that an arrest warrant (as opposed to a search warrant) would have sufficed for entry into the suspect's residence if there had been reason to believe that the suspect was within the home.
Payton and related case law establish that the principle that a person in a home, particularly his or her own, is entitled Fourth Amendment protections not afforded to persons in automobiles, as per Whren v. United States, or to persons in public, as per United States v. Watson.