Also known as: warrantless search · searches without warrant
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A search conducted by government officers without prior judicial authorization based on probable cause. Such searches are presumptively unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment and require a recognized exception such as valid consent or exigent circumstances to be upheld.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Winston West and his roommate Wren Wallace share an apartment. Wren tells officers they may search the living room while Winston is at work. Officers find stolen property belonging to a third party and use it against Winston at trial.
Officers obtain a warrant later found defective because the affidavit lacked probable cause. They search Warren Wu's home in good faith reliance on the warrant and seize documents. The evidence is admitted at Wu's trial despite the warrant's invalidity.
Housing inspectors enter Willow West's apartment building without a warrant to check for code violations. They discover evidence of illegal activity in her unit. The evidence is suppressed because the inspection lacked a warrant or consent.
Agents attach a listening device to a public phone booth used by Wade Watson. They record his conversations without a warrant. The recordings are excluded because Watson had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the booth.
Officers possess an arrest warrant for a suspect and enter Wayne Walker's home without a search warrant. They arrest the suspect inside and seize evidence belonging to Walker. The evidence is suppressed against Walker because no separate search warrant authorized entry into his home.
An officer stops Warwick Electronics' delivery van for a traffic violation and sees a weapon in plain view. The officer searches the passenger compartment for additional weapons without a warrant. The search is upheld because the officer had reasonable suspicion that the occupant was armed and dangerous.
Consent is valid when given by a person with common authority over the premises. That consent permits officers to search areas of common use and justifies admission of evidence against a nonconsenting co-occupant.
…searching homes and seizing personal belongings without warrants. The Amendment has been construed liberally to protect against warrantless searches of buildings and seizures of tangible effects, but until recently the Court refused to say eavesdropping fell within its restrictions. The first major case involving wiretapping, Olmstead…