Miscellaneous

Bah. I Didn't Really Care for the Fourth Amendment Anyway

In case you missed it, yesterday The Sups basically trounced all over our Fourth Amendment rights, further de-fanging the exclusionary rule in search and seizure cases. The conservative majority essentially stated that if the police accidentally violate your Constitutional rights during a search or seizure, the evidence is still admissible.

The case arose out of a situation where the police arrested a man based on an arrest warrant that had been recalled five months before. They found amphetamines on his person. The Supreme Court ruled that the drugs were allowed into evidence. Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion, noting: "Evidence may be used 'when police mistakes are the result of negligence such as that described here, rather than systemic error or reckless disregard of constitutional requirements.'"

In other words: If the police screw up, that's your problem, and not the cops; i.e., henceforth, the police will be rewarded for their "mistakes." You can expect the cops to be making a lot more "mistakes" in the future.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on January 15, 2009 (boomark / email).