In June, the US Supreme Court struck down a provision of the Los Angeles Municipal Code. The Court held that, under the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures, “The provision of the Los Angeles Municipal Code that requires hotel operators to make their registries available to the police on demand is facially unconstitutional.”

That holding is already having a direct effect in North Carolina. As WXII reports:

A city of Burlington ordinance requiring hotels to provide police with names on their registries or face criminal consequences is unconstitutional, a District Court judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Steven Messick made the ruling in the case of a man whose name was found and recognized by police on a hotel registry. That man was later charged with drug possession subsequent to a search of the hotel. …

Messick’s ruling was based on a decision in June by the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down a law in the city of Los Angeles that gave hotel owners no choice but to hand over their registries — without requiring search warrants or court review— or face criminal consequences.

Burlington ordinance 23-41 requires hotels and motels to keep their guest registries for as long as one year and allow them to be inspected “at any reasonable time by the chief of police or his designee … while in the performance of his duties.” …

“What (police) can’t do anymore is search that registry,” [defense attorney Bryan] Ray said. “They can’t basically profile, and say, ‘John Smith has a criminal history; let’s knock on his door.’” …

Subsequent to the ruling, [Assistant District Attorney Brooks] Stone dismissed the case for insufficient evidence. …

Stone was unsure whether other pending cases might be affected by Messick’s ruling. He also said North Carolina’s high courts hadn’t weighed in on the motel registry issue yet.