Appeals Panel Hears Arguments Regarding Constitutionality Of Game Warden Searches Without Warrant
Image Credit: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency / YouTube
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
On Tuesday, a panel of three judges heard arguments on whether a Tennessee law that allows game wardens to search private property without a warrant is constitutional.
The arguments were made as part of an appeal made by the state against a decision made in Benton County in March 2022 that said the law was unconstitutional.
The law that is being challenged has been unofficially dubbed the “game warden surveillance law.” It allows the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and other state and federal agencies to search for violations of wildlife laws on any outside private properties without obtaining a search warrant to do so.
In the original lawsuit, plaintiffs Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth stated that TWRA employees went on their private land in 2017 and before on numerous occasions to look for violations and even installed cameras on the property without permission of the owners, despite the fact that there were posted “No Trespassing” signs.
Rainwaters and Hollingsworth say that this was a violation of their right to privacy as guaranteed by both the Tennessee Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.
The pair is being represented by attorney Josh Windham from the Institute of Justice. Windham argued that the law allows the TWRA to have a “blank check” to go on to private land “whenever they please.”
Tennessee Appeals Court Judge Jeffrey Usman questioned why rules for searches would be more stringent when people were involved instead of wildlife.
“If police can’t enter [private property] to investigate a crime against persons, why can the TWRA enter to investigate with regard…to animals?” asked Usman. “Doesn’t the state have an even stronger interest in protecting persons rather than wildlife?”
Amanda Jordan, a representative from the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, said that the difference in the interests of the TWRA require a different standard.
“If people are allowed to hunt on private property, then TWRA…needs to be able to enter private property to check for those licensing compliances and to make sure that they are complying with all of the wildlife regulations,” Jordan said.
Windham argued that the law provides stronger protections for criminals than it does for hunters, noting that warrants are required to search properties of potential bootleggers and drug manufacturers.
“That can’t be the rule that prevails in Tennessee,” he said.
When Judge Arnold Goldin asked why the TWRA could not just obtain a warrant like is done for other searches, Jordan stated that the agency might not know the name of the hunter or they may not be at the same location by the time they get a warrant.
The arguments only took about half an hour. Goldin said a decision would be given “as soon as possible.”
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
It is NOT acceptable for citizens to lose their constitutional rights in order to make law enforcement’s job easier.
Seems they are figuring out every way to circumvent our rights as citizens with every loophole they can find. They care nothing of our Constitution and show us by pissing on it everyday. Death by a thousand cuts until they can steamroll over everyone and claim they have the right to do so. All these people seem to have a price tag hanging off of them and just fill in the right number and they will turn on Americans without a second thought.
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Never, ever talk to any law enforcement officers without an attorney present. Especially Wildlife Officers, they are known to lie.
TWRA is lucifer’s own, as bad as they come, have zero oversight by elected officials.
Why should they be above the Law to go around a warrant??? Why can’t we go to their house and kick down the door ??? The Possum Police has always thought they were above the law!! Well Most.