Bringing the party to the Supreme Court in a case about searches and arrests
Bringing the party to the Supreme Court in a case about searches and arrests via @amarimow
Bringing the party to the Supreme Court in a case about searches and arrests
By Ann E. Marimow October 2 at 7:00 AM
One of the most buttoned-up institutions in the country will wrestle with the free-for-all culture of the house party as the Supreme Court hears a case set for Wednesday that began in a brick duplex in the District. ... The weighty legal matters involve policing, arrests and searches in private homes.
But those issues are packaged in a case that includes a mystery hostess named Peaches, women in garter belts stuffed with cash and party guests who werent certain who owned the house they were in, but told police Peaches was a renter who had invited at least some of them.
Attorneys on each side used debauched in their filings to describe the late-night bash on Anacostia Avenue a decade ago. ... They split over whether D.C. police officers called to investigate noise complaints acted legally and reasonably when they arrested 21 people for trespassing and whether the officers and District government should have to pay upward of $1 million in damages a jury awarded most of the guests after charges eventually were dropped.
The outcome of the case may turn in part on how the justices view the loose etiquette of house parties and whether guests need to fully vet a hosts invitation. The nights revelry, and how it was handled by police, already have sparked debate between two legal titans on opposing political ends of an important appeals court bench in Washington.
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Ann Marimow covers legal affairs for The Washington Post. She joined the Post in 2005, and has covered state government and politics in California, New Hampshire and Maryland. Follow @amarimow