The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge today to a county's practice of routinely searching welfare applicants' homes without warrants and ruling out assistance for those who refuse to let them in.
The justices refused, without comment, to intervene in the case from San Diego County where investigators from the local District Attorney's office show up unannounced at applicants' homes and conduct searches that include peeking into closets and cabinets. The visits do not require any suspicion of fraud and are intended to confirm that people are eligible for government aid.
Failure to submit to the searches, which can last an hour, disqualifies applicants from assistance.
The 10-year-old program was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of six single parents seeking assistance. The welfare applicants argued that the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches, protects them from the home visits.
Eight appeals court judges voted to have the full San Francisco-based court hear the case. Seven of those judges called the program "an attack on the poor."
