Law Enforcement Case Law

This article is another in a recurring series that provides a selective review of current case law involving law enforcement. The cases are drawn from decisions rendered by the U.S. Courts of Appeal between January 2005 and December 2006. This time period covers Volumes 390-472 of the Federal Reporter (third edition). The topics addressed include the following areas of search and seizure law commonly faced by law enforcement officers: the exclusionary rule, probable cause, stop and frisk, the search incident to arrest exception, the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement, consent searches, automobile searches, plain view, and open fields. Cases were selected on the basis of their currency and discussion of current “hot-button” issues in search and seizure law. This article provides criminal justice scholars with an update on the current state of the law in search and seizure. Although the U.S. Supreme Court is the final word on the subject, the high court decides only a handful of search and seizure cases in a term. The bulk of the law is developed in the lower courts. The federal courts of appeal hear appeals regarding Fourth Amendment claims from all of the states. They interpret Supreme Court pronouncements and apply Supreme Court rules to a variety of situations and contexts, often ones not anticipated by the high court.