36
votes
Accepted
Can police arrest you to later fish for probable cause?
Police may not arrest you without probable cause, and the existence of probable cause is evaluated “at the moment of the arrest.” Beck v. State of Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 96 (1964). Therefore, police may ...
- 61.8k
31
votes
Accepted
Does the United States' Fourth Amendment cover privacy violations by private corporations?
Is it a correct inference that the right "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" extends to even a private corporation?
No. It's not even a correct inference that it ...
- 24.2k
25
votes
Accepted
How far does the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine extend?
You have raised two broad questions. The question about reasonable suspicion asks: when is evidence illegally obtained? That's difficult to answer, because it depends on the nature of the evidence and ...
- 9,356
25
votes
Can evidence a person gives to aid an investigation then be used to prosecute that person for an unrelated crime?
There are essentially no such limits on the use of such evidence.
The police are free to use evidence from one case in whatever other cases it may be helpful, and criminals have no right to turn over ...
- 61.8k
19
votes
Accepted
What would happen if there is an attempt by police to deceive a judge to get a warrant?
You are correct. A judge may only issue a warrant when it is supported by an affidavit, in which the officer seeking the warrant swears under oath to the facts supporting the warrant. Lying on the ...
- 61.8k
17
votes
Accepted
Arizona law requires you to admit to carrying a firearm. Would that be admissible evidence?
The 5th amendment protects you from self-incrimination. If by possessing a firearm you are in violation of the law you cannot be compelled by law to reveal this information. If the police discover you ...
- 605
15
votes
Accepted
Is there an implied consent to a frisk in a stop in the US?
If you consent, the evidence can almost certainly be used against you. Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429 (1991) ("Even when officers have no basis for suspecting a particular individual, they may ...
- 61.8k
15
votes
Can police arrest you to later fish for probable cause?
It depends on the meaning of "can." Do you mean to ask whether it is lawful, or whether it is possible for police to make such an arrest, or whether it is possible for such an arrest to ...
- 40.1k
15
votes
Accepted
If a law is blatantly unconstitutional, is a search warrant based on that law valid?
If it is "sufficiently obvious" that a law is unconstitutional, evidence obtained relying on that law can probably be suppressed.
Two important principles help discern the answer to this ...
- 61.8k
14
votes
Can evidence a person gives to aid an investigation then be used to prosecute that person for an unrelated crime?
In general, there is no right under the US Constitution not to have evidence that has been voluntarily provided for another purpose used for further criminal investigation.
The premise of the question ...
- 115k
12
votes
Is there an implied consent to a frisk in a stop in the US?
It depends on whether this is a brief stop, or an arrest. If you are under arrest (no warrant required), a basic frisking for officer safety is legal and does not require your consent. If you are ...
- 217k
11
votes
What would happen if there is an attempt by police to deceive a judge to get a warrant?
Evidence obtained under a warrant supported by a falsely-sworn affidavit can be challenged as inadmissible, see Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, if
the defendant makes a substantial preliminary ...
- 217k
10
votes
Does the United States' Fourth Amendment cover privacy violations by private corporations?
No, it does not
The terms "searches" and "seizures", as used here, are terms of art, and refer to governmental actions, primarily to the actions of law enforcement (police, ...
- 115k
10
votes
Accepted
Does the exclusionary rule attach to the illegality of the search or to the person whose rights were violated?
In order to challenge a search at trial via an evidence suppression motion, the particular defendant has to have Fourth Amendment "standing"1 with respect to that search: Rakas v. Illinois, ...
- 72.7k
9
votes
Can evidence a person gives to aid an investigation then be used to prosecute that person for an unrelated crime?
Yes. A rather well known example: Mark Whitacre was an executive at ADM (Archer Daniels Midland). He turns into a whistle blower about a price fixing scheme around lycine (a livestock feed additive)
...
- 429
8
votes
Does allowing a police officer into your house implicitly waive your Fourth Amendment rights?
Yes and No
See Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967):
What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. But what ...
- 227k
8
votes
Accepted
If I do not password protect my phone, do I forfeit reasonable expectation of privacy?
I'm not aware of case law on point, other than Riley, which you mention (which doesn't mean that there isn't any - I'm not a specialist in this area).
But, I think that the answer would be that you ...
- 240k
7
votes
Accepted
Are defendants legally obliged to provide all culpatory evidence to prosecution?
Are defendants legally obliged to provide all culpatory evidence to
prosecution?
The question here is whether or not all evidence requested by
prosecution must be provided by the defense? If the ...
- 240k
7
votes
In the US, can the police be forced to release a suspect because their location was obtained in violation of the 4th amendment?
The 4th Amendment protects a criminal defendant from having evidence obtained illegally used to prosecute them or provide a basis for arresting them of a crime.
The police had untainted evidence ...
- 240k
6
votes
Accepted
Can law enforcement use a GPS tracking device without a warrant?
US v. Jones
The majority opinion in US v. Jones 565 U. S. ____ (2012) , written by Justice Scalia, held that the attachment of the GPS device to the vehicle was a trespass and thus a search. The ...
- 4,054
6
votes
Who can give the police consent to search my property?
With respect to 4th Amendment protections, which guard against unreasonable searches, Illinois v. Rodriguez, 497 U.S. 177 held that "A warrantless entry is valid when based upon the consent of a third ...
- 217k
6
votes
Accepted
Bill of Rights protection against mandatory vaccination?
It probably does, up to a point. Roe v. Wade asserts a right to privacy, discussed in §VIII. Granting that there is no explicit enumeration of a right to privacy in the Constitution, its implicit ...
- 217k
6
votes
If police don't know which apartment has criminal evidence, can they search all of them?
If the police can get a warrant from a judge confirming that they have probable cause, they could, and that finding would probably be confirmed in a subsequent suppression hearing alleging that the ...
- 240k
6
votes
Lawyer-approved statement to say to the police to unequivocally retain all rights
It does matter if you invoke your right to silence. First, if you do, that affects what police can do (they have to stop interrogating you). Second, it plays a role in "adoptive admissions". ...
- 217k
6
votes
Is there an implied consent to a frisk in a stop in the US?
In a lawful stop, the officer does not need you consent to do this. They do, however, need a reason to suspect you have or are about to commit a crime. They cannot stop you solely for the purpose of ...
- 4,715
5
votes
Accepted
Does allowing a police officer into your house implicitly waive your Fourth Amendment rights?
First, welcome to LSE, Josh. And congratulations on such a nice first question.
The answer to your question is No.
Inviting an officer into your house to talk about a robbery does not give the officer ...
- 8,446
5
votes
Does allowing a police officer into your house implicitly waive your Fourth Amendment rights?
Hard to Tell
The individual consented to a search by letting the officer come in, and consent searches are held to be reasonable. Katz was an unconsented invasion of privacy (picking up sound through ...
- 217k
5
votes
Can a university in the U.S. legally force students to get regularly tested for COVID-19?
As a private university, they have much broader discretion to require things of you. Questions of 4th amendment rights are beside the point, what would matter is whether it is already covered by some ...
- 217k
5
votes
How can I tell whether my 4th amendment rights have been violated?
In case there is no way of knowing, thus no way to sue, would this
seem like a loophole that practically abolishes the 4th amendment ?
The 4th amendment only means that the officer needs a probable ...
- 28.2k
5
votes
Must the State compensate individuals from whom property is seized as evidence?
This is a good question, which I am going to answer from a practical perspective, rather than a theoretical one, which would probably justify a law review article (applications of the takings clause ...
- 240k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible