The ruling, the first major criminal law decision of this term, came over a strong dissent from Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. He said people who share a dwelling give up most of their privacy rights.

In the case before the court, the wife's wish "to cooperate with the government" in a drug investigation should not be thwarted by her husband's refusal, Roberts said. Conservative Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas agreed.

But a moderate-to-liberal majority led by Justice David H. Souter cited the "ancient adage that a man's home is his castle," and that even "the poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the crown."

On a more everyday level, Souter said "no sensible person" would think he was free to enter a house if one of its two occupants stood in the doorway and said, "Stay out." That, in sum, is what happened in the case of Scott and Janet Randolph,

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