Kentucky’s Rand Paul reintroduces Breonna Taylor act to end no-knock warrants in US
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is reintroducing legislation that would ban no-knock warrants, the legal vehicle that was used to raid the home of Breonna Taylor, who was shot to death by police in Louisville four years ago.
“It is a mistake, there’s a better way of doing things,” said Paul during a Monday news conference with Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey, who is sponsoring the House version of the “Justice for Breonna Taylor Act.”
Added Paul, “There’s a lot of better ways to arrest people that don’t involve going in in the middle of the night.”
First introduced in June 2020, just three months after Taylor’s death, the legislation prohibits no-knock warrants, which permit law enforcement officers to enter a premises without first identifying their authority and purpose.
The legislation would stop any law enforcement agency that receives funding from the Department of Justice from executing such warrants without providing notice before entering a residence.
While the bill has yet to make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Paul said he hoped that attracting bipartisan sponsors for the legislation in both chambers would provide fresh momentum towards passage.
“The one thing I think we will try -- and I don’t believe we tried last time -- is just putting it out there and seeing if anybody objects,” Paul said.
No officer has ever been charged with shooting Taylor, but the Justice Department charged four current former police officers with civil rights violations.
Since Taylor’s death, Louisville and the state of Kentucky have banned no-knock warrants. The same urgency has not been evident on the national level.
“If there was no no-knock warrant that happened that night, I don’t think it would’ve been carried out that way,” said McGarvey of Taylor’s death.
“Tell Sen. McConnell to support this bill. Tell the other congressmen in Kentucky to support this bill.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
