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Fourth Amendment
noun
an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, prohibiting unlawful search and seizure of personal property.
Example Sentences
The judges cited a 2017 case in Orange County as precedent, writing that “continuing to shoot a suspect who appears to be incapacitated and no longer poses an immediate threat violates the Fourth Amendment.â€
Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan restored the basic principle that reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment cannot be measured in a blink.
Supreme Court convened to hear oral arguments in the case in January, it took up a question that tests the outer bounds of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment: Must courts evaluating a police officer’s use of force examine the entire encounter, or may they isolate only the split second in which an officer claims to have perceived a threat?
This interpretive framing, what petitioners and amici have termed the “moment of threat†doctrine, presents a consequential question: whether the Fourth Amendment permits courts to assess reasonableness based solely on the narrowest slice of time or whether it requires an evaluation of the officer’s entire course of conduct during the seizure.
Under the Fourth Amendment, the use of force is a “seizure†subject to the constitutional requirement of reasonableness.
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When To Use
The Fourth Amendment is an amendment to the US Constitution that forbids illegal searches and taking of property.The Constitution of the United States is the document that serves as the fundamental law of the country. An amendment is a change to something. An amendment to the Constitution is any text added to the original document since its ratification in 1788. The Constitution has been amended 27 times in American history.The Fourth Amendment states:“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.â€The Fourth Amendment has been interpreted to mean that the government cannot search or seize you or your property without good reason or a warrant signed by a judge. In practice, the Fourth Amendment limits the actions of police officers, who are government employees. For the most part, police officers can’t search or detain you for no reason. They also cannot enter your home or take your property for no reason.However, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Fourth Amendment hasn’t been violated if the officer had probable cause to perform a search or seizure without a warrant. Probable cause means that the officer reasonably believed a crime had been committed or there were extreme circumstances, such as a person’s life being in danger. If a police officer sees you commit a crime, for example, they do not need a warrant to search or arrest you.Additionally, if you consent to an officer’s request of a search or seizure, it is legal. If a police officer asks to search your bag and you say they can, they are not violating your Fourth Amendment rights if they then search your bag.The Fourth Amendment is often debated and has been at the center of a huge number of Supreme Court cases. Courts have long battled to balance Fourth Amendment rights with police officers’ job of enacting justice and fighting crime. As technology advances, we are likely to see more debate and court cases regarding the Fourth Amendment.
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