572
Thomas, J., dissenting
While "it is of course textually possible to consider [a warrant requirement] implicit within the requirement of reasonableness," California v. Acevedo, 500 U. S. 565, 582 (1991) (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment), the text of the Fourth Amendment certainly does not mandate this result. Nor does the Amendment's history, which is clear as to the Amendment's principal target (general warrants), but not as clear with respect to when warrants were required, if ever. Indeed, because of the very different nature and scope of federal authority and ability to conduct searches and arrests at the founding, it is possible that neither the history of the Fourth Amendment nor the common law provides much guidance.
As a result, the Court has vacillated between imposing a categorical warrant requirement and applying a general reasonableness standard. Compare Thompson v. Louisiana, 469 U. S. 17, 20 (1984) (per curiam), with United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U. S. 56, 65 (1950). The Court has most frequently held that warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable, see, e. g., Katz v. United States, 389 U. S. 347, 357 (1967); Payton v. New York, 445 U. S. 573, 583 (1980), but has also found a plethora of exceptions to presumptive unreasonableness, see, e. g., Chimel v. California, 395 U. S. 752, 762-763 (1969) (searches incident to arrest); United States v. Ross, 456 U. S. 798, 800 (1982) (automobile searches); United States v. Biswell, 406 U. S. 311, 315- 317 (1972) (searches of "pervasively regulated" businesses); Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco, 387 U. S. 523, 534-539 (1967) (administrative searches); Warden, Md. Penitentiary v. Hayden, 387 U. S. 294, 298 (1967) (exigent circumstances); California v. Carney, 471 U. S. 386, 390-394 (1985) (mobile home searches); Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U. S. 640, 648 (1983) (inventory searches); Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U. S. 266, 272 (1973) (border searches). That is, our cases stand for
Page: Index Previous 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007