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CA9 (Kozinski dissenting): Plain view encourages violations of the Fourth Amendment

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

In dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc in United States v. Lemus, 08-50403 (February 18, 2010) (panel decision of September 22, 2009 here) Chief Judge Kozinski laments the near death experience of the Fourth Amendment where the police got to conduct a plain view of the interior of a house without reason. In short, plain view encourages violations of the Fourth Amendment. This is an extraordinary case: Our court approves, without blinking, a police sweep of a person’s home without a warrant, without probable cause, without reasonable suspicion and without exigency—in other words, with nothing at all to support the entry except the curiosity police always have about what they might find if they go rummaging around a suspect’s home...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 20, 2010 (boomark / email).