The Standing

A daily, non-partisan record of US democratic norms — and the events that erode them.

    DOJ rescinds 2021 no-knock entry limits, broadening when agents can enter homes unannounced

    On March 2, 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Justice Department memo rescinding the 2021 policy that restricted federal agents' use of "no-knock" entries to situations where they feared imminent physical danger. Under the new memo, no-knock entries are also permissible whenever there is a risk that evidence could be destroyed — a condition former prosecutors warned can be asserted in nearly any search. The change was made by internal memo without public rulemaking and was reported on the eve of the sixth anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death in a botched no-knock raid.

    Jurisdiction
    federal
    Location
    Washington, D.C.

    Abuses documented

    Actors

    • Todd Blanche
    • U.S. Department of Justice

    On March 2, 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche signed and circulated a Justice Department memo to top supervisors and U.S. attorneys rescinding the 2021 policy that had tightly restricted federal agents' use of "no-knock" entries when executing search warrants. The 2021 restrictions limited such entries to cases where agents had good reason to believe that announcing themselves would create an imminent danger of physical harm.

    Under the new memo, no-knock entries are permissible for a broader set of searches — not only when agents fear an imminent safety risk, but also when there is a risk that evidence could be destroyed. Former prosecutors told MS Now that a claim of potential evidence destruction can be made in nearly any search, effectively making no-knock entries justifiable across a wide range of cases and removing the presumption against the most dangerous form of home entry.

    The 2021 policy had been adopted as a civil-liberties response to deadly forced-entry raids, most prominently the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT shot by Louisville police during a botched no-knock execution. The Blanche memo was made by internal memo without public rulemaking and was reported on the eve of the sixth anniversary of Taylor's death.

    Why we recorded this

    A core protection in a free society is that the government cannot force its way into a person's home unannounced except in narrow, carefully justified circumstances, because a sudden armed entry can turn an ordinary search into a deadly confrontation in which residents cannot tell police from intruders. The 2021 limits this memo rescinds confined no-knock entries to situations of imminent physical danger, a restraint adopted after forced-entry raids like the one that killed Breonna Taylor. By extending that authority to any search where evidence "could be destroyed" — a condition agents can assert in nearly any case — the new policy removes the presumption against the most dangerous form of home entry, and it was made by internal memo without public rulemaking. We record this as an erosion of the principle that force be used accountably and only as a last resort.

    Sources

    1. Justice Department rescinds Biden-era 'no-knock' warrant policy — MS Now primary accessed June 12, 2026
    2. Trump DOJ quietly rescinded limits on 'no-knock' warrants days before anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death — TheGrio secondary accessed June 12, 2026
    3. Justice Department Lifts Strict No-Knock Entry Procedures — Davis Vanguard secondary accessed June 12, 2026
    4. Early Edition, March 4, 2026 — Just Security secondary accessed June 12, 2026

    See also