US Supreme Court Review: Fourth Amendment Cases
(This is another post in our series, Looking Back at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 Term.)
On the criminal side of the Court’s docket, I found this term’s statutory interpretation cases more interesting than the constitutional cases. In the latter category, the Fourth Amendment decisions were probably the most significant. They were:
- Fernandez v. California, 571 U.S. __ (2014) (police permissibly conducted warrantless consent search of home notwithstanding objection of one occupant).
- Prado Navarette v. California, 572 U.S. __ (2014) (anonymous 911 call sufficiently justified stop of vehicle).
- Riley v. California, 573 U.S. __ (2014) (warrant required for search of arrestee’s cell phone).
In reviewing these three cases, I think the most intriguing comparison is between Fernandez and Riley. The two decisions serve to highlight apparent inconsistencies in the Court’s stance toward search warrants.
Our July guest blogger with be rising 3L Joel Gracyk. Joel hails from Chaska, Minnesota, and is interested in constitutional law and legal writing. He is the incoming Editor in Chief of the Marquette Law Review.