Sustained!: An Unusual Majority: Stevens, Souter, Ginsberg, Thomas and Scalia

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

An Unusual Majority: Stevens, Souter, Ginsberg, Thomas and Scalia

Today, the United States Supreme Court decided Arizona v. Gant, which expanded protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Court SUSTAINED! an individual's objections and assertions that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated by the government. The Court all but eliminated the blankett application of the "Search-incident" to arrest exception to warrantless searches. This decision by the Supreme Court is a departure from previous rulings on the Fourth Amendment by the Court.

Specifically, the Court held that "Police may search the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only if it is reasonable to believe that the arrestee might access the vehicle at the time of the search or that the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest." In o

ther words, the police cannot search your car unless they have grounds to arrest you and they reasonably think that there is evidence of the crime for which you were arrested in the car. The first part of the Court's holding (if they reasonably believe the arrestee might access the vehicle) should rarely occur because a person under arrest will usually be under police control and custody.

This decision is significant and interesting in part because of the strange coalition of Justices that made up the majority - Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsberg, Thomas and Scalia. Rarely have these Judges been on the same side of any issue. Yet this decision all but eliminates the situation where the police could trump up a traffic infraction or some other crime on which to arrest someone and then justify a search of their entire vehicle. After this decision if the police search a vehicle after arresting for a traffic violation, they can only search for evidence of that traffic violation. Driving While Black, and other offensive law enforcement tactics have been dealt a surprising blow by an unusual majority. It is a departure from court precedent dating back almost 28 years. In this era of police abuse and cowboyism, it is a welcomed change.

Here is a link to the Court's decision.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-542.pdf

3 comments:

AnonymousApr 21, 2009 06:14 PM
The caselaw here is interesting, but does it really make a difference? Afterall, if you are under arrest, your vehicle, unless there is a passenger with a valid driver's license, the vehicle is still subject to an inventory search. What exactly is accomplished here by this caselaw?
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AnonymousApr 21, 2009 06:21 PM
As a matter of fact, it would appear that the Supreme Court just gave law enforcement officers a reason to arrest people for traffic violations.
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Eric J. DavisApr 21, 2009 07:35 PM
First, this is exactly what has been done under the search incident to arrest exception. That exception gave police a “reason” to try to arrest people. In practice, the police would “trump up” traffic or other offenses, arrest and then search. Now, the police will be limited only to searching for evidence of the alleged traffic violation or offense of arrest. As in the Gant decision, a person arrested for driving with a suspended license will almost never have evidence of the license in their vehicle. It is a significant change from current practices.

Second, there are still limitations on vehicle inventories. Previous decisions of the Supreme Court have affirmed that inventory searches must carried out in accordance with an existing standard procedure of the arresting agency. The Court opines that such is necessary to ensure that the intrusion would be limited in scope to the extent necessary to carry out the caretaking function of officers dealing with another’s property. Officers must follow an existing standard procedure. If there is no existing standard procedure, then an inventory search is unconstitutional. Moreover, if one exists and is not followed, then the inventory is unconstitutional. Courts look for evidence that such a search was a pretext concealing an investigatory police motive. As you said, in some jurisdictions when there is a passenger with a valid driver's license, the vehicle may not be subject to an inventory search. Under the search incident to arrest exception, the police could still search in the presence of a passenger with a valid license. Further, inventory searches of vehicles will still be limited only to situations where there is an actual inventory policy and where that policy is followed. In some jurisdictions, police officers allow arrestees to lock up their vehicles in some circumstances. It is the policy of some agencies to allow this to occur.

Not every vehicle is impounded and towed following an arrest. It is not as common as you might think. In countless cases, Courts have suppressed evidence when police argue that their search was done pursuant to an inventory search. Nevertheless, I would agree with your basic assertion, this decision will not eliminate all tools available to Police who want to abuse a person’s civil liberties. But it does severely limit one.
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