Private Property. Keep Out. No Trespassing. These are all signs that your average American inherently understands: This land belongs to someone else, and the public has no right to enter. But to Pennsylvania wildlife officers, those signs rate as suggestions, not strict rules. That’s because Pennsylvania grants its wildlife officers virtually unlimited power to enter private land whenever they please to snoop around for potential hunting violations.
The members of the Punxsutawney and Pitch Pine hunting clubs learned that the hard way, after repeated encounters with officers who roamed their land, watched and interrogated them — and even secretly installed a camera on their land in hopes of catching a hunting violation.
Unfortunately, warrantless intrusions by law enforcement are nothing new. They date back to Prohibition, when federal agents searched private land for illicit stills. In 1924, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the practice, ruling that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless intrusions onto land. Then, in 2007, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court followed suit, ruling that the state’s Constitution does the same.
But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court got it wrong. The Pennsylvania Constitution specifically protects “possessions” from warrantless searches. Land is a “possession.” And the state Constitution can offer more protection than the Fourth Amendment. The hunting clubs stood before the court last week to correct its error and to restore the property rights of all Pennsylvanians.
Like other Pennsylvanian landowners, the hunting clubs’ members go to their private land for peace and solitude with close family and friends — not to be spied on by wildlife officers hiding in the bushes. Their land is gated, fenced and posted with clearly visible No Trespassing signs. Only approved guests can enter.
None of that has stopped the officers. Without hesitation, they enter the clubs’ land by foot, bicycle or truck. They secretly watch members for hours as they go about their private business. They interrupt members mid-hunt, sometimes approaching them from behind or entering their tree stands, to inspect their papers.
The clubs’ members want to stop the government from treating private land like public property. They’ve partnered with our public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice (IJ), to ensure private land gets the protection it deserves under the Pennsylvania Constitution.
With IJ’s help, landowners in other states are defending their property against warrantless intrusions. In a Tennessee case nearly identical to this one, a state appeals court affirmed that its state constitution’s protection of “possessions” forbids officers from freely entering private land and installing spy cameras in their trees. In Virginia, Josh Highlander teamed up with IJ after a camouflaged officer stood outside his home, frightening his wife and 6-year-old son, and seized a camera Josh set on his own land — all without a warrant.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has an opportunity to restore privacy and property rights not only for our clients, but to all Pennsylvanians. No Trespassing signs should apply to the government too.
Daniel Nelson is an attorney and Phillip Suderman is the communications project manager at the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Va.