Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ends Warrantless Searches of Posted Private Land

The Court overruled a 2007 precedent and held that landowners who post their property are entitled to a warrant before the government can come in.

For nearly two decades, Pennsylvania game wardens could walk, drive, and mount cameras on posted private land without a warrant, relying on a 2007 Commonwealth Court decision that imported the federal "open fields" doctrine into state law. On July 21, 2026, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ended that practice.

In Punxsutawney Hunting Club, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Game Commission, No. 23 WAP 2023, the Court reversed the Commonwealth Court and overruled Commonwealth v. Russo (2007), holding that Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides greater protection against unreasonable searches than the Fourth Amendment. The Court found that the constitutional term "possessions" — unlike the federal "effects" — includes land, and struck down most of the Game and Wildlife Code provisions that had authorized wardens to enter posted property without a warrant.

Going forward, a warden who wants onto posted land needs the landowner's consent, a warrant, or a recognized exception to the warrant requirement — the same rule that already governs a home.

Goldstein Law Partners' role

Goldstein Law Partners filed an amicus curiae brief in the case on behalf of the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, supporting the two Clearfield County hunting clubs that brought the challenge (Amicus Curiae Br. of Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, Punxsutawney Hunting Club, Inc. v. Pa. Game Comm'n, No. 23 WAP 2023 (Pa. filed Jan. 25, 2024)). The clubs were represented by the Institute for Justice, whose attorney Joshua Windham argued the case.

The result is a significant expansion of property rights for every posted landowner in the Commonwealth — hunting clubs, farmers, and homeowners alike — and a rare instance of a state constitution doing more work for individual liberty than its federal counterpart.

Jonathan S. Goldstein and Shawn M. Rodgers are attorneys at Goldstein Law Partners. Mr. Goldstein's constitutional and civil-rights litigation has previously been cited favorably by Justice Alito of the U.S. Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen.