The Fourth Amendment demands that all government searches be conducted reasonably. Government searches conducted by warrant (a judicial writ or order authorizing a law enforcement officer to conduct a specific act) are presumed reasonable. However, it is not always possible or practical for law enforcement to obtain a warrant prior to conducting a search. Accordingly, over the years the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized various search warrant exceptions. These include emergency searches, searches incident to arrest, consent searches, motor vehicle searches, and inventory searches. However, law enforcement conduct pursuant to a search warrant exception is presumed unreasonable by the courts; and the prosecution bears the burden of proving that the challenged law enforcement activity falls within the judicially created prerequisite and scope of the search warrant exception at issue.

and together will brief one of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions below:

• Arizona v. Gant, Download Arizona v. Gant,556 U.S. 332 (2009) (Search Incident to Arrest)
• Brigham City, Utah v. StuartLinks to an external site.,547 U.S. 398 (2006) (Emergency Exception)
• Collins v. Virginia Download Collins v. Virginia,584 U.S. _____ (2018) (Motor Vehicle Exception)
• Fernandez v. California Download Fernandez v. California, 571 U.S. 292 (2014) (Consent)
• Georgia v. Randolph Download Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103 (2006) (Consent)
• Kentucky v. King Download Kentucky v. King, 563 U.S. 452 (2011) (Emergency Exception)
• Maryland v. BuieLinks to an external site.,494 U.S. 325 (1990) (Emergency)
• Michigan v. Fisher Download Michigan v. Fisher,558 U.S. 45 (2009) (Emergency Exception)
• Missouri v. McNeely Download Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141 (2013) (Emergency Exception)
• Riley v. California Download Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014) (Search Incident to Arrest)
• South Dakota v. OppermanLinks to an external site.,428 U.S. 364 (1976) (Inventory)
• Thompson v. LouisianaLinks to an external site.,469 U.S. 17 (1984) (Emergency/Crime Scene)

let the instructor know if there is a particular case you would like to brief and/or a student you would like to work with. Otherwise, the instructor will assign cases and partners. For your case brief, use this template