The Bill of Rights
The First Fundamental Changes of
the Constitution
Bill of Rights
•First 10
amendments
(changes) are the Bill
of Rights
•Drafted by James
Madison
•June 8, 1789
Bill of Rights
4. The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation,
and particularly by describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment 4: Unreasonable
Searches and Seizures
• Warrants must have probable cause, supported by oath
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and describe place to be searched and persons or things
to be seized
Prevents police from doing all purposes searches
If exposed to the public, including your garbage, then
they are open to search
Airport searches have been ruled constitutional due to
the high risk and do not have to have a specific reason
Sobriety Checkpoints: police may stop drivers at
roadblocks as long as individual drivers are not singled
out. If probable cause, Breathalyzers can be used
Amendment 4
• Once a person gives consent to search, probable cause
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is not required
Drug Testing: without probable cause, the
government can test certain employees if they are
involved in public safety or law enforcement
Student searches: public school official do not need
probable cause to search students, but police need
probable cause for searches on school property
Schools may require students participating in
extracurricular activity to have random drug tests
Types of Searches
• Search Incident to a Lawful Arrest: most common
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warrantless search. Police can search suspect and area
for weapons or evidence they were destroyed
Plain View: An officer does not need a warrant if the
evidence is in plain sight
Searches can be made during an emergency without a
warrant
Hot pursuit: Police may follow suspect if they are in
pursuit
Automobiles: Searches of automobiles do not need a
warrant
Exclusionary Rule
• If illegal search is done, evidence seized
must be excluded in court
• If police believe that the search warrant is
legal and act in good faith, then evidence
can be used if the warrant later is
discovered not be valid on technical
grounds
Warrant Clause and Arrests
• All warrants or court orders must be based on
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probable cause and signed by magistrate
Arrests: warrants are not needed for all
arrests, but if a crime is in a home, a warrant is
required
If an arrest is made, the police officer has to
demonstrate probable cause for the arrest in
front of a magistrate within 48 hours
4th Amendment
• Applies to governmental searches and
seizures, but does not cover searches and
seizures done by private citizens or
organizations not acting on government’s
behalf
• Bill of Rights originally limited federal
government, but under due process clause
of the 14th amendment, state governments
are also under this amendment— Wolf v.
Colorado
Expansion of 4th Amendment
• As powers of federal government to do
searches and seizures, especially after the
Interstate Commerce Act and Sherman
Anti-Trust Acts, cases to the Supreme
Court over the 4th amendment increased
Reasonable Search and Seizure
• “Where there is probable cause to believe
that a criminal offense has been or is
being committed”
• Reasonableness requirement applies not
just to a search in combination with a
seizure, but in searches without seizures
Search
• Katz v. United States, 1967: Supreme
Court ruled that a search occurs only
when a person expects privacy in the
thing searched and society believes that
expectation is reasonable
• This case concerned the wiretapping of a
telephone booth
Stop and Frisk
• Terry v. Ohio, 1968: law enforcement
officers are permitted to conduct limited
warrantless searches on a level of
suspicion less than probable cause such as
unusual conduct, showing of weapons and
endangering others
Seizure
• Meaningful interference by the
government with an individual’s property
such as government seizure of property to
use as evidence
• Questioning an individual in a public place
is not seizure
• Seizure of a person requires physical force
or show of authority
Exclusionary Rule
• Provides that evidence obtained through a
violation of the 4th amendment is not
admissible by the prosecution in trial
Unreasonable Searches and
Seizures
• Non-consensual extraction of blood
• Gathering of fingerprints from free
persons
• Booking procedures are not under these
types of seizures