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What Went Wrong With The Warren Court's Conception Of The Fourth Amendment?, John B. Mitchell

Faculty Articles

This article discusses the current status of police in the United States--police can undertake any and all actions unrestrained by any law but their own. The post-Warren Supreme Courts have held that none of these police activities are "searches" and/or "seizures," and in these courts' Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, that means that these activities are not circumscribed by the Fourth Amendment at all. Thus, in terms of the Constitution, the police are without any judicial supervision and subject to no standards but their own whim. The article explores the reasons for this, and faults the Warren Court for its mishandling of …