It's not "the law since 1976". The SCOTUS case you cited
requires probable cause.
I'm definitely getting what you're saying... it's just that you don't really know what you're talking about.
Here is the
Santana opinion that you're referencing, where it is literally
called out in the very first part of the ruling
Held:
- 1. Santana, while standing in the doorway of her house, was in a "public place" for purposes of the Fourth Amendment, since she was not in an area where she had any expectation of privacy and was not merely visible to the public but was exposed to public view, speech, hearing, and touch as if she had been standing completely outside her house. Thus, when the police, who concededly had probable cause to do so, sought to arrest her, they merely intended to make a warrantless arrest in a public place upon probable cause and did not violate the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Watson, 423 U.S. 411 . P. 42
2. By retreating into a private place, Santana could not defeat an otherwise proper arrest that had been set in motion in a public place. Since there was a need to act quickly to prevent destruction of evidence, there was a true "hot pursuit," which need not be an extended hue and cry "in and about [the] public streets," and thus a warrantless entry to make the arrest was [427 U.S. 38, 39] justified, Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294 , as was the search incident to that arrest. Pp. 42-43.
When the Attorney General of the United States, who is basically the top law enforcement official for the entire country, advises federal agents that they can openly violate the Constitution to achieve Donald Trump's political goals, that is the definition of "something special".