An Illinois city’s demand to inspect its residents’ homes without a warrant has triggered a Fourth Amendment court fight.
Officials in Zion, Illinois, are threatening the owners of rental units with massive fines if they don’t force their tenants to “voluntarily” allow searches.
The Institute for Justice is representing Zion landlord Josefina Lozano in a lawsuit against the city.
“Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, there is only one option for the government when it wants to search a home without the occupant’s consent: get a warrant,” the institute explained.
But in Zion, city officials fine landlords up to $750 a day, or even revoke their licenses, unless they force tenants to allow the city’s searches.
“Just because someone chooses to rent, rather than own their home, it doesn’t mean they give up their constitutional rights,” IJ Attorney Rob Peccola said. “It is plainly unconstitutional for Zion to force renters to open up their homes to government inspectors without a warrant and under threat of extreme penalties.”
Lozano wants to protect her tenants’ rights. Some of tenants have refused to allow warrantless inspections so the city has threatened her with fines.
“Rather than wait for the city to issue ruinous fines, Josefina and three of her tenants – Della Sims, Dorice Pierce and Robert Pierce – are teaming up with the Institute for Justice to file a federal lawsuit fighting Zion’s unconstitutional ordinance,” IJ said.
In 2015, when the city passed its rental inspection ordinance, the mayor at that time blamed the city’s poor financial health on an “overabundance of non-owner-occupied rental property,” the institute said.
The mayor argued renters “often do not take care of their property like homeowners do, so this ordinance targets rentals only.”
But constitutional rights do not depend on a property’s ownership, IJ said.
The Supreme Court has held that such mandatory inspections can be allowed “but only if the inspector first obtains an administrative warrant,” IJ said.
Zion officials, however, refused to do that.
“For the government to go inside your home, it needs a warrant. But Zion and cities across the country routinely ignore this fact, assuming that citizens won’t be able to fight back. We look forward to vindicating our clients’ Fourth Amendment rights with this lawsuit,” said IJ Constitutional Law Fellow Adam Griffin.
The institute already has successfully challenged a rental-inspection program in Arizona and is engaged in current cases in Pennsylvania and Washington state.
