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The Automobile Exception Transformed: The Rise Of A Public Place Exemption To The Warrant Requirement, Lewis R. Katz

Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court in recent years has aggressively pursued restrictions on a person's Constitutional protections from unreasonable searches and seizures. Perhaps no better example exists of the radically changing fourth amendment analysis than the automobile exception to the warrant requirement This exception allows a law enforcement official with probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime is hidden in a vehicle to search that vehicle without obtaining a search warrant This Article explores the genesis and unchecked growth of the automobile exception from a necessary outgrowth of the exigencies of protecting police officers and preventing tampering with evidence, to …