Cite as: 514 U. S. 1 (1995)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
have any power to discourage official error of this kind, it must be through application of the exclusionary rule.
The use of general warrants to search for evidence of violations of the Crown's revenue laws understandably outraged the authors of the Bill of Rights. See, e. g., Lo-Ji Sales, Inc. v. New York, 442 U. S. 319, 325 (1979); Weeks v. United States, 232 U. S. 383, 389-391 (1914). " 'It is a power, that places the liberty of every man in the hands of every petty officer.' " James Otis, quoted in 2 Works of John Adams 524 (C. Adams ed. 1850), quoted in turn in Illinois v. Krull, 480 U. S. 340, 363 (1987) (O'Connor, J., dissenting). The offense to the dignity of the citizen who is arrested, handcuffed, and searched on a public street simply because some bureaucrat has failed to maintain an accurate computer data base strikes me as equally outrageous. In this case, of course, such an error led to the fortuitous detection of respondent's unlawful possession of marijuana, and the suppression of the fruit of the error would prevent the prosecution of his crime. That cost, however, must be weighed against the interest in protecting other, wholly innocent citizens from unwarranted indignity. In my judgment, the cost is amply offset by an appropriately "jealous regard for maintaining the integrity of individual rights." Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643, 647 (1961). For this reason, as well as those set forth by Justice Ginsburg, I respectfully dissent.
Justice Ginsburg, with whom Justice Stevens joins, dissenting.
This case portrays the increasing use of computer technology in law enforcement; it illustrates an evolving problem this Court need not, and in my judgment should not, resolve too hastily.1 The Arizona Supreme Court relied on "the
1 We have in many instances recognized that when frontier legal problems are presented, periods of "percolation" in, and diverse opinions from, state and federal appellate courts may yield a better informed and more enduring final pronouncement by this Court. See, e. g., McCray v. New
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