Caniglia v. City of Cranston

A seven-year legal battle over privacy rights in the home, fought by ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorneys in a case that went all to the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, ended today with the filing of a settlement in the case of Cranston resident Edward Caniglia.

For the second time in less than four years, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a federal lawsuit over a Cranston Police Department policy of refusing to return firearms seized without a warrant from residents who are neither charged with a crime nor found to pose a danger to themselves or others. Today’s suit, on behalf of resident Edward Caniglia, argues the Cranston Police Department violated his right to due process and his right to keep and bear arms by retaining his firearms without just cause after seizing them without a warrant.

In an important victory for privacy rights, the U.S Supreme Court today unanimously rejected police arguments that engaging in a non-criminal “community caretaking” function allows them to search a person’s home without a warrant.