Cite as: 526 U. S. 603 (1999)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
resolution of the conflict in the Circuits on the qualified immunity issue.1 The clarity of the constitutional rule, a federal statute (18 U. S. C. § 3105), common-law decisions, and the testimony of the senior law enforcement officer all support my position that it has long been clearly established that officers may not bring third parties into private homes to witness the execution of a warrant. By contrast, the Court's opposing view finds support in the following sources: its bare assertion that the constitutional question "is by no means open and shut," ante, at 615; three judicial opinions that did not directly address the constitutional question, ante, at 616; and a public relations booklet prepared by someone in the United States Marshals Service that never mentions allowing representatives of the media to enter private property without the owner's consent, ante, at 617.
I
In its decision today the Court has not announced a new rule of constitutional law. Rather, it has refused to recognize an entirely unprecedented request for an exception to a well-established principle. Police action in the execution of a warrant must be strictly limited to the objectives of the authorized intrusion. That principle, like the broader protection provided by the Fourth Amendment itself, represents the confluence of two important sources: our English forefathers' traditional respect for the sanctity of the private
1 It is important to emphasize that there is no split in Circuit authority on the merits of the constitutional issue. Nor, as I explain infra, at 622-624, do I believe that any District Court had reached a conclusion at odds with the Court's Fourth Amendment holding. Any conflict was limited to the qualified immunity issue. Three Circuits rejected the defense whereas the Fourth and the Eighth accepted it. See Ayeni v. Mottola, 35 F. 3d 680, 686 (CA2 1994); Bills v. Aseltine, 958 F. 2d 697 (CA6 1992); Berger v. Hanlon, 129 F. 3d 505 (CA9 1997); 141 F. 3d 111 (CA4 1998) (en banc); Parker v. Boyer, 93 F. 3d 445 (CA8 1996).
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