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WA: Administrative search of a dentist's office unconstitutional

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

"Today we decide whether a warrantless administrative inspection of a dentist's office not authorized by statute violates the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches. We conclude that it does and, accordingly, reverse." Seymour v. Dep't of Health, 2009 Wash. App. LEXIS 2279 (September 8, 2009): ¶17 Reining in the power of the executive branch in conducting administrative searches is a primary concern of courts reviewing such statutory schemes. Where a statutory scheme is properly formulated and followed, Fourth Amendment concerns are addressed by the elimination of unreasonable searches. In such cases, “it is difficult to see what additional protection a warrant requirement would provide. … The discretion of Government officials to determine what facilities to search and what violations to search for is thus directly curtailed by the regulatory scheme...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 13, 2009 (boomark / email).