Case: Eric Tyrell Johnson v. United States, No. 25-774
Lower Court: Fourth Circuit
Docketed: 2026-01-02
Status: Pending
Question Presented: “[W]hen it comes to the Fourth Amendment, the home is first among equals.” Florida v. Jardines, 569 U.S. 1, 6 (2013). As this Court has repeatedly stressed, “the sanctity of a person’s living space” is entitled to “special protection.” Lange v. California, 594 U.S. 295, 303 (2021). Given that “centuries-old principle,” the right “to retreat into [one’s] own home and there be free from unreasonable government intrusion” lies at the “very core” of the Fourth Amendment. Id.
The Court distributed Johnson v. United States for its April 17, 2026 conference, following petitioner’s reply brief filed March 23. Seven amicus briefs were submitted, including filings from the Cato Institute, Pacific Legal Foundation, and Restore the Fourth. That level of amicus support at the cert stage signals that the civil-liberties community views this as a well-positioned vehicle for resolving a genuine and persistent circuit conflict.
The underlying facts are straightforward. Officers brought a drug-detection dog to the front door of Johnson’s apartment at 3 a.m., inside a locked hallway of a multi-unit building, without a warrant. The dog alerted. The Fourth Circuit held the sniff was not a Fourth Amendment search, deepening a split between circuits that treat apartment-door sniffs as searches requiring a warrant and those that do not.
The legal question turns on how Florida v. Jardines extends to multi-unit dwellings. In Jardines, the Court held that bringing a drug dog onto a home’s porch was a Fourth Amendment search. The petitioner argues the locked interior hallway of an apartment building is functionally equivalent to that porch. The government contends the common hallway falls outside any reasonable expectation of privacy. Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed the opposition brief on March 4.
If the Court grants certiorari, the case will require it to clarify whether apartment dwellers receive the same Fourth Amendment protection as single-family homeowners. The answer will affect millions of residents in multi-unit buildings and will define the practical reach of Jardines for law enforcement nationwide.