''United States v. Rabinowitz'', 339 U.S. 56 (1950), was a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case which the Court held that warrantless searches immediately following an arrest are constitutional. The decision overturned '' Trupiano v. United States'' (1948), which had banned such searches.

Background

Albert J. Rabinowitz was arrested in his office on February 16, 1943, for selling forged U.S. postage stamps to an undercover federal officer. Federal agents then conducted a warrantless 90 min search of the office, finding an additional 573 forged stamps. Rabinowitz unsuccessfully moved to exclude this evidence from his subsequent trial, but the motion was denied. He was convicted, but the

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

reversed the verdict and ruled his rights under the Fourth Amendment had been violated.

Opinion of the Court

The US Supreme Court reversed the Appeals Court ruling in a 5–3 decision. Writing for the majority, Justice

Sherman Minton Sherman "Shay" Minton (October 20, 1890 – April 9, 1965) was an American politician and jurist who served as a U.S. senator from Indiana and later became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; he was a member of the ...

wrote that only "unreasonable" searches were banned under the Fourth Amendment; searching the office of a suspected forger at the site of his lawful arrest was held to be reasonable.

References

External links

* {{US4thAmendment, warrantexceptions, state=expanded 1950 in United States case law United States Fourth Amendment case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Vinson Court