High Court Will Determine Whether Ohio Cities Can Gut Search Warrant Requirement When Homes are For Sale or Rent
High Court Will Determine Whether Ohio Cities Can Gut Search Warrant Requirement When Homes are For Sale or Rent
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2025
North Canton’s crusade for warrants to enter homes based solely on lack of consent from homeowners is unconstitutional.
Stark County, OH – The Supreme Court of Ohio will hear argument on whether Ohio cities can obtain boilerplate search warrants green-lighting forced search of local homes to look for code violations. In doing so, the Court will be the first in the nation to squarely consider whether its state constitution is more protective of homeowners and tenants than the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The action is brought against North Canton, Ohio by the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law on behalf of Canton-area landlords Eric and Lila Wohlwend and their tenants. The City brought suit against the Wohlwends to obtain a search warrant covering the entirety of their property – inside and out – after they simply declined to consent to such an inspection.
The 1851 Center explains that the Ohio Constitution requires true “probable cause” – evidence of a threat to others – threat to others before courts may issue a search warrant to conduct a sweeping rental and point of sale inspections of Ohioans’ homes.
“Ohioans maintain a fundamental right to use their own property in ways that don’t inflict harm others. This right includes the right to exclude public officials from intruding into their homes and rifling through every square foot of their kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms for no reason other than ‘just to check things out,’” explained 1851 Center Executive Director Maurice Thompson. “Tenants aren’t second-class citizens without rights: they’re entitled to the same privacy and security from government overreach as those who own their homes, and sham warrants cannot be used to violate their rights any more than entirely warrantless searches.”
The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law protected Ohioans’ privacy and property rights by stopping warrantless rental and point-of-sale inspections of homes across Ohio through victories in Baker v. Portsmouth, Pund v. Bedford, and Thompson v. Oakwood.
“A finding of ‘probable cause’ to issue a warrant solely because a homeowner does not consent to that search, would entirely undermine the protections provided by the warrant requirement.” added Thompson.
The case is pending before the Supreme Court of Ohio, supported by Amicus Briefs from the Ohio Association of Realtors and Pacific Legal Foundation.
Read the 1851 Center’s Motion for Jurisdiction here.
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The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law is a nonprofit, nonpartisan legal center dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights of Ohioans from government abuse. The 1851 Center litigates constitutional issues related to property rights, regulation, taxation, and searches and seizures. www.OhioConstitution.org
