Fourth Amendment Flashcards
What is the Fourth Amendment?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
What was the original purpose of the 4th Amendment?
The original purpose of this Amendment was to prevent general warrants.
In colonial times, the English government would issue broad/general warrants to investigators, which gave them the right to search/seize anything arbitrarily.
What is the warrants clause?
This clause in the 4th amendment holds that “no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
This clause predominates.
“The warrants clause predominates.”
This means that a warrantless search is presumptively unconstitutional.
However, there are many exceptions to the warrant requirement and sometimes the Court places more emphasis on whether a search was reasonable.
