U.S. Supreme Court Weakens Fourth Amendment Protections

Posted Friday, July 1, 2016 by Andrew Charles Huff

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Utah v. Strieff weakened the Fourth Amendment’s protections by allowing in evidence improperly seized in a vehicle search. In a very unfortunate decision, one the dissent called “absurd,” the Court found the search of Mr. Strieff’s vehicle after he was detained on an outstanding warrant for a traffic violation was admissible despite the fact the search itself was unconstitutional.

The Court reasoned that there was no flagrant police misconduct, and the discovery of a valid, pre-existing, and untainted arrest warrant “attenuated the connection between the unconstitutional investigatory stop and the evidence seized incident to a lawful arrest.” The Court found that the attenuation doctrine applies in a case like this, where the intervening circumstance is the discovery of a valid, pre-existing, and untainted arrest warrant.

In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor stated, “the Court today holds that the discovery of a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket will forgive a police officer’s violation of your Fourth Amendment rights. Do not be soothed by the opinion’s technical language: This case allows the police to stop you on the street, demand your identification, and check it for outstanding traffic warrants—even if you are doing nothing wrong. If the officer discovers a warrant for a fine you forgot to pay, courts will now excuse his illegal stop and will admit into evidence anything he happens to find by searching you after arresting you on the warrant.”

Well stated Justice Sotomayor.