Statute
Fourth Amendment
736 published works
Eye on Enforcement
The Reasonableness of Retaining Personal Property Post-Seizure and the Ascendancy of Text, History, and Tradition in Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence
By Ty E. Howard
How long can the government keep your property after lawfully seizing it? According to the D.C. Circuit in a recent decision, as long as the continued possession is still reasonable…
Chicago Criminal Law Blog
Post-Arrest Swabs Are Legal But Are They Justified?
Concerns of Police Overstepping When Collecting DNA Samples Post Arrest Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that law enforcement can take DNA samples from arrestees after an arrest is…
Chicago Criminal Law Blog
Federal Government May Be Violating Your Fourth Amendment Rights
Concerns Raised Over Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Buying Peoples’ Data It is becoming increasingly apparent that the government may be circumventing the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches by buying…
Simple Justice
Machado: Judge Morrison To CBP, For Cellphones, Get A Warrant
Everything’s different at the border. CBP and ICE are entrusted with keeping us safe from enemies, both foreign and domestic, at least when it comes to those who have the…
Chicago Criminal Law Blog
Increased Scrutiny Over Warrantless Searches of Phones at the Border
New York Judge Finds Search of Individual’s Locked Phone at Border Crossing Violates Fourth Amendment Rights Judge Nina R. Morrison, a federal judge in New York, ruled that US Customs…
On Brief: Iowa's Appellate Blog
In four opinions over 61 pages, Iowa Supreme Court wrestles with meaning of Fourth Amendment
By Rox Laird
Does a drug-sniffing dog violate a suspect’s constitutional protection against unreasonable government search and seizure by putting its paws up on the suspect’s car at the urging of its handler?…
Appellate and Supreme Court
Via per curiam (with lots of separate opinions), SCOTUS reverses Fifth Circuit’s approach to retaliatory arrest claim
The Supreme Court this morning handed down a short per curiam opinion today in Gonzalez v. Trevino, No. 22-1025 (S. Ct. June 20, 2024) (available here). That opinion runs less…
Sentencing Law and Policy
Supreme Court, by 6-3 vote, clarifies (a bit) the rules for § 1983 malicious-prosecution claims
The Supreme Court this morning handed down a short opinion in Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon, No. 23-50 (S. Ct. June 20, 2024) (available here). Justice Kagan authored the opinion…
Sentencing Law and Policy
Not quite original(ist) musings on SCOTUS showing little interest in constitutional criminal procedure cases
In this post over at Crime & Consequences noting the Supreme Court's latest criminal statutory case cert grant (flgged here), Kent Scheidegger closes with this notable lament: The high…
Chicago Criminal Law Blog
Automated Police Surveillance Systems Come Under Scrutiny
Virginia Court Rules Police Use of the Technology Unconstitutional A Virginia Court recently ruled that a local police department’s use of automatic license plate readers was a Fourth Amendment violation…