AAHOA Defends Hoteliers' Fourth Amendment Rights in U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) argued today in U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the constitutional right of U.S. hoteliers against illegal searches by law enforcement officers.

In 2013, a group of hotel owners, including six AAHOA members, came together to challenge Section 41.49 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code which permits police officers to search hotel guest registries on demand and without a warrant. Some officers were allegedly using this law to review registries and to demand master keys, often awakening guests in the middle of the night to verify documentation.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supported the hoteliers' claim and determined that Section 41.49 was unconstitutional. The city of Los Angeles subsequently appealed and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in February 2015.

"AAHOA continues to strongly support all law enforcement officials, as we depend on them to keep our guests, families and businesses safe and secure," said AAHOA Chairman Pratik Patel. "We are, however, the largest hotel owner association in the world and AAHOA is vested in the belief that all requests for business records should be subject to judicial review."
 
In addition to AAHOA's efforts, other organizations submitting briefs to Court supporting the hoteliers' position include: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Google Inc., the Cato Institute, the Rutherford Institute, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Institute for Justice, professors Adam Lamparello and Charles MacLean of Indian Tech Law School, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Gun Owners of America, Inc., the U.S. Justice Foundation, the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, the Abraham Lincoln Foundation, the Downsize DC Foundation, Downsize DC.org, the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Policy Analysis Center.
 
Founded in 1989, AAHOA is the largest hotel owners association in the world, with over 14,000 small business owner-members. AAHOA members own more than 20,000 properties amounting to more than 40 percent of all hotels in the United States and employ nearly 600,000 workers, accounting for over $9.4 billion in payroll annually.