Grutter v Bollinger
Grutter v Bollinger
Facts: This case raises questions concerning the Fourth Amendment and searches incident to a lawful arrest. On September 13th, 1965, three police officers arrived at Chimel’s residence in Santa Ana, California. They possessed a search warrant, which authorized Chimel’s…
In 2002, Lemon Montrea Johnson was the passenger in the backseat of a car stopped for a traffic violation. Johnson was charged with; inter alia, possession of drugs and possession of a weapon by a felon. These items were discovered during a protective pat-down search of Johnson. Johnson was convicted by the trial court. Johnson argued that his conviction should be overturned because the trial court was in error by denying his motion to suppress the evidence. He argued that he had been unlawfully “seized” because being a passenger in a vehicle does not automatically constitute “seizure.” He furthered argued that even if he had been “seized,” that by the time Officer Trevizo searched him he was no longer “seized” as their conversation had become consensual. Furthermore, the evidence should not be considered because the search violated his Fourth Amendment rights and because the…
The first sentence of Chief Justice Warren's opinion in Terry v Ohio, is as follows: "This case presents serious questions concerning the role of the Fourth Amendment in the confrontation on the street between the citizen and the policeman investigating suspicious circumstances.” According to Chief Justice Warren this issue had never been approached in the Supreme Court. Warren also stated “This case is dealing on the one hand with is frequently argued that in dealing with the rapidly unfolding and often dangerous situations on city streets the police are in need of an escalating set of flexible responses, graduated in relation to the amount of information they possess. For this purpose it is urged that distinctions should be made between a "stop" and an "arrest" (or a "seizure" of a person), and between a "frisk" and a "search." He believed this could be imposed because it was a minor inconvenience to the person being searched and was acceptable in order for effective law enforcement and secure the safety of the…
After Robinette was pulled over for speeding and given a warning, technically he was free to leave. But he was asked if his car could be searched and he consented. Robinette claims he would not have consent if he knew he could have declined. So he feels that the officer should have stated something along the lines of “you are free to go” before asking to search the car. Robinette feels this is a violation of his right within the Fourth Amendment. It is then discovered that the Fourth Amendment does not require the suspect to be advised he is free to go before consent is considered voluntary.…
The issue brought into question in the Terry vs. Ohio case in 1968 involved a police officer, McFadden, who was patrolling the area in normal clothes. He came across two men pacing the area suspiciously and glancing into a store. He the watched them meet at a street corner frequently where they were joined by another man. After watching them do this approximately twenty-four times he approached the group and asked them their names. He patted down the overcoat that the man was wearing and felt a revolver, which he then removed. The defense argued the issue to be admissibility of evidence uncovered by an improper search and seizure. They argued that the Fourth Amendment protects the people despite where they are; at home or on the streets. It…
In his article Florida v. Harris: Turning Police Dogs into Search Warrants on a Leash, John Whitehead questions the intentions of both police officers and Supreme Court judges, who seem to be condoning and ruling in favor of unconstitutional searches of American citizens. The criteria for what qualifies as probable cause has now been left up to the judgement of an officer. With variance in why a search should be conducted, Americans are left in the dark when it comes to their own rights. Although the Constitution outlines these rights, their interpretations gets lost when the Supreme Court rules in the favor or those who seem to be abusing their power rather than using it to protect the American people. .…
Case Signifance: The 4th amendment prohibits the unlawful search and seizure of resident belonging to citizens of the United States of America.…
The Fourth Amendment was set in place to protect society from unlawful police work. When it comes to apprehending criminals and ensuring their conviction, evidence needs to be gathered before hand. To do so, there is a lengthy process to be followed; the search and seizure method, the arrest, reasonableness, and right of privacy methods. However, there are laws that can protect officers in the line of duty or make accommodations to police work while in the line of duty. One law that helps protect police officers during the line of duty is the “stop and frisk.” However, for an arrest to take place there must be probable cause in that it must be more than likely than not that a violation of the law has been committed and the individual arrested committed the…
Terry v. Ohio was a court decision made in 1968 that still affects how police conduct their operations to this day. This case gave special liberties to police officers which would otherwise be in conflict with the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment states " the right of the people to be secure in their persons, house, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized. " The Supreme Court's decision allowing reasonable suspicion of a crime can be grounds for a search, even without probable cause.…
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,” Mapp V. Ohio (1961) dealt with that very sentence of the constitution. Were the officers at fault or Mapp? This complex question has a complex answer one that puzzled the Supreme Court and led to a change in criminal procedure. The verdict was a strict interpretation of the constitution. The fourth amendment was relevant because the fourteenth amendment grunted due process. It was a very good decision, it protected the black minority who at the time were being routinely harassed and convicted for no reasons. This decision certainly did not stop that but it made it harder…
The reason the defense argued the initial search and subsequent seizure violated the Fourth Amendment of the men being accused is because the arresting officer did not have probable cause for arrest, and simultaneously did not posses a warrant to search the suspects. The court denied the motion to suppress the evidence, and inevitably found the men guilty. The defense appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, but the court held the original…
Although the 4th amendment has been ratified with the Bill of Rights, it still seems to be constantly evolving with current opinions of the Supreme Court. Even in recent years, it appears that there are more loopholes developing through court case precedents which allows law enforcement to seemingly disregard the 4th amendment almost completely. In this cartoon it can be seen that law enforcement is able to disregard a citizens privacy rights with the permission of the Supreme Court.…
The Supreme Court rejected the defendants' arguments. The Court noted that stops and frisks are considerably less intrusive than full-blown arrests and searches. It also observed that the interests in crime prevention and in police safety require that the police have some leeway to act before full probable cause has developed. The Fourth Amendment's reasonableness requirement is sufficiently flexible to permit an officer to investigate the situation. The "sole justification" for a frisk, said the Court, is the "protection of the police officer and others nearby." Because of this narrow scope, a frisk must be "reasonably designed to discover guns,…
In an effort to maximize an individuals rights during search and seizures along with stop-and-frisks, the United States government has developed numerous laws and amendments. The Fourth Amendment states, The right of 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 describing the place to be searched , and the persons or things to be seized (U.S. Constitution). This amendment was first used in the court system in the case of Terry vs. Ohio (1968). This case was the case that shaped the stop-and-frisk laws that are found in our country today. In 1942 legislators started to authorize stops-and-frisks on less than probable cause under the Uniform Arrest Act. This act gave an officer the right stop a person in public based upon reasonable ground to suspect that the person is committing has committed, or is about to commit a crime, and then search him for a dangerous weapon if the officer has reasonable ground to believe that he is in danger (Whitebread, 2000). In 1968 the Supreme Court addressed the issue in terry v. ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S. Ct. 1868, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889. In Terry an experienced plainclothes officer observed three men acting suspiciously; they were walking back and forth on a street and peering into a particular store window. The officer concluded that the men were preparing to rob a nearby store and approached them. He identified himself as a police officer and asked for their names. Unsatisfied with their responses, he then subjected one of the men to a frisk, which produced a gun for which the suspect…
The fourth Amendment disallows absurd seizure of any individual or individual property without legitimate approval i.e. a warrant. In lawful terms, seizure of property is when there is critical obstruction by the legislature with an individual's belonging. The special case to this decide is that a seizure does not occur when the administration addresses a person in an open place. The individual is said to be seized if his flexibility of development is…