Tag: Fourth Amendment

The U.S. Supreme Court has added several important criminal law cases to its upcoming docket. In Carpenter v United States, the issue is whether police need a warrant to obtain historical cell-site records, which indicate which cell towers a cell pho...

In a per curium opinion in Hernandez v Mesa, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and remanded the case for further proceedings. The closely-watched case involves the fatal s...

In County of Los Angeles vs Mendez, 581 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s controversial provocation rule, which required courts to consider pre-shooting conduct when determining the reasonable...

In Manuel v. City of Joliet, 580 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim is the proper avenue for challenging an unlawful post-arrest detention. According to the seven-member majority, such a...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in District of Columbia v Wesby. The case, which sprung from a wild D.C. party, addresses two important criminal law issues. The first is when the Fourth Amendment probable cause standard allows poli...

The U.S. Supreme Court’s new term gets into full swing next week. To kick off the new Supreme Court term, the justices will hear oral arguments in five cases, along with issuing orders and a meeting to consider additional cert petitions.   ...

In Birchfield v North Dakota (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment permits warrantless breath tests incident to arrests for drunk driving. However, it held that warrantless blood tests do run afoul of the Constitution. &nbs...

In Utah v Strieff, the U.S. Supreme Court held that evidence seized incident to a lawful arrest on an outstanding warrant need not be suppressed just because the warrant was discovered during an investigatory stop, later found to be unlawful. The 5-3...

The U.S. Supreme Court returns from recess on February 22, 2016 without Justice Antonin Scalia. Below is a brief summary of the Supreme Court’s Case Docket that the Eight justices will consider this month.   Kingdomware Technologies, In...

In Mapp v. Ohio, 367 US 643 (1961), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained through a search in violation of the Fourth Amendment could not be used as evidence in a state criminal case. The decision relied on the doctrine of selective inc...