Utah v. Strieff (dissent on Fourth Amendment rights)

E232006

Utah v. Strieff (dissent on Fourth Amendment rights) is a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court narrowed the exclusionary rule for evidence obtained after an unlawful stop, prompting a forceful dissent warning about the erosion of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

All labels observed (2)

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Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf United States Supreme Court case
areaOfLaw criminal procedure
citation 579 U.S. 232
concurringOpinionBy Sonia Sotomayor
surface form: Justice Sonia Sotomayor
concurringVote 1
constitutionalProvisionInterpreted Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
court Supreme Court of the United States
criticizedFor expanding police authority to exploit outstanding warrants discovered after unlawful stops
weakening Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures
decisionDate June 20, 2016
dissentingOpinionBy Elena Kagan
surface form: Justice Elena Kagan

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
surface form: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Sonia Sotomayor
surface form: Justice Sonia Sotomayor
dissentingVote 3
docketNumber No. 14-1373
doctrineApplied attenuation exception to the exclusionary rule
factPattern After arresting Strieff on the warrant, the officer searched him and found drugs and drug paraphernalia.
During the unlawful stop, the officer learned of an outstanding arrest warrant for Strieff.
Police officer conducted an investigatory stop of Strieff without reasonable suspicion.
fullName Utah v. Strieff (dissent on Fourth Amendment rights) self-linksurface differs
surface form: Utah v. Strieff, 579 U.S. 232 (2016)
holding Evidence seized incident to arrest on a valid, pre-existing warrant is admissible even when the warrant is discovered after an unlawful investigatory stop, because the warrant attenuates the connection between the unlawful stop and the evidence.
impactOnExclusionaryRule Narrowed the circumstances in which evidence must be suppressed after an unlawful stop.
joinedKaganDissent Ruth Bader Ginsburg
surface form: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
joinedMajority John G. Roberts Jr.
surface form: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Anthony M. Kennedy
surface form: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy

Samuel A. Alito Jr.
surface form: Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Stephen G. Breyer
surface form: Justice Stephen G. Breyer
joinedSotomayorDissentInPart Ruth Bader Ginsburg
surface form: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
jurisdiction United States of America
surface form: United States
kaganDissentTheme Argued that the majority opinion misapplied the attenuation doctrine and undermined the deterrent purpose of the exclusionary rule.
legalIssue Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
surface form: Fourth Amendment

attenuation doctrine
exclusionary rule
lowerCourtDisposition Suppression of evidence affirmed
majorityOpinionBy Clarence Thomas
surface form: Justice Clarence Thomas
majorityVote 5
originatingCourt Utah Supreme Court
petitioner Utah
surface form: State of Utah
precedentStatus Binding precedent on federal and state courts regarding attenuation and the exclusionary rule
relatedCase Brown v. Illinois
Herring v. United States
Wong Sun v. United States
respondent Edward Joseph Strieff Jr.
ruleOfLaw The discovery of a valid, pre-existing arrest warrant can be a sufficient intervening circumstance to attenuate the taint of an unlawful stop.
sotomayorDissentCharacterization Warned that the decision allows police to stop individuals without cause and then use outstanding warrants to justify searches.
sotomayorDissentCitation Invoked writings by James Baldwin and Michelle Alexander to describe the consequences of the ruling.
sotomayorDissentNotableFeature Discussed the lived experience of police encounters and systemic racial disparities in policing.
sotomayorDissentTheme Erosion of Fourth Amendment rights, particularly for people of color and the poor
subjectOf scholarly criticism on Fourth Amendment erosion and policing practices
supremeCourtDisposition Reversed and remanded

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Sonia Sotomayor notableCaseInvolvement Utah v. Strieff (dissent on Fourth Amendment rights)
Utah v. Strieff (dissent on Fourth Amendment rights) fullName Utah v. Strieff (dissent on Fourth Amendment rights) self-linksurface differs
subject surface form: Utah v. Strieff
this entity surface form: Utah v. Strieff, 579 U.S. 232 (2016)