Search & Seizure; Reasonableness Flashcards
Who wrote the first 10 amendments to the Constitution aka the Bill of Rights?
James Madison
Why did James Madison write the Bill of Rights?
- in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties
- they list specific prohibitions on governmental power
What were General Warrants and why did the Founding Fathers hated them?
- issued by the Brisish Crown
- allowed its bearer to search wherever or seize whomever or whatever he wished during the regin of the king, merely because of some vauge clain of disloylty
- used to suffocate political and religious dissent for centuries
- Colonists viewed them as instruments of tyranny
- state after state went on to outlaw general warrants in their consitutions, before the 4th Amendment prohibited it in the federal Constitution
4th Amedment
- right to be let alone
- any search must be justified and limited
- should be secured at at peace in your own home
- protectes from unreasonable Searches and Seizures
Reasonableness Clause
- 4th Amendment
- prohibits unreasonable searches & seizures
- the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated
Warrant Clause
- 4th Amendment
- eliminates the hated general warrant
- 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
Who is protected under the 4th Amedment?
The people—-everyone
Government of the people, by the people and for the people
Not just “citizens” - includes slaves & disenfranchised women ALiens within the US that have developed a substantial connection with this country (US v Verdugo-Urquidez, 1990)
Who is the 4th Amedment protecting the people from?
- originally the federal government (Barron v Baltimore, 1833) then states also (Wolf v Colorado, 1949; Mapp v OH, 1961)
- government officials and agents particulary, law enforcement (police, sheriffs, troopers, special agents)
- Not Private Actors
What is being protected by the 4th Amednment?
- Security
- Liberty (privacy) and property
- persons, houses, papers, effects
What kind of warrant would I need to search persons, houses, papers, and effects?
- Arrest Warrant
- persons
- Serch Warrant
- houses
- papers
- effects
Reasonableness - Probable Cause
What is Property Interest?
The right of the people to be secure in their person, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seiures, shall not be violated in terms of property.
What does Property Interst Cover/ Not Cover?
COVERS______Private Property - home (no tresspassing) so one needs a search warrant
Not Covers_____Public Areas & Where Invited - government places; places where one is invited so no search required
Flordia v Jardines
- anonymous tip that home was being used for marijuana groth
- Police led a dog to front door to sniff and left
- dog alerted to the scent of contraband
Justice John Roberts held that the use of a trained detection dog to sniff for narcotics on the front porch of a private home is a “search,” and therefore, without consent, requires both probable cause ans a search warrant.
Summary: Dog Sniffing at front porch was an Unconstitutional Search
Define Curtilage
- a zone of habitation
- the land immediately surrounding and associated with the home and harbors the intimate activities associated with the sanctity of a man’s home and the privavies of life
(Oliver v US; US v Dunn)
What court case defined that the curtilage is part of the home for 4th Amednment purposes?
aka the 4th Amendment doesn’t apply beyond the curtilage
Flordia v. Jardines