Law Faculty

California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35; 108 S. Ct. 1625; 100 L. Ed. 2d 30 (1988) Facts—Acting on information that Greenwood might be in the narcotics trade, the Laguna Beach Police Department asked the neighborhood’s regular trash collector to pick…

California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207; 106 S. Ct. 1809; 90 L. Ed. 2d 210 (1986) Facts—Policemen acted on a tip that Ciraolo was growing marijuana in his backyard. Because of an inner and outer high fence it was difficult…

New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325; 105 S. Ct. 733; 83 L. Ed. 2d 720 (1985) Facts—A fourteen-year-old high school freshman in New Jersey (and a companion) were discovered smoking in the school lavatory in violation of school rules.…

Nix v. Williams, 467 U.S. 431; 104 S. Ct. 2501; 81 L. Ed. 2d 377 (1984) Facts—On Christmas Eve in 1968 ten-year-old Pamela Powers disappeared from a YMCA building in Des Moines, Iowa. A fourteen-year-old boy subsequently saw Williams carrying…

United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897; 104 S. Ct. 3405; 82 L. Ed. 2d 677 (1984) Facts—Police obtained a facially valid search warrant to conduct a search from which they gained evidence that resulted in an indictment for possessing…

United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798; 102 S. Ct. 2157; 72 L. Ed. 2d 572 (1982) Facts—Acting on information supplied by a reliable informant, the police stopped a described automobile and individual, opened the car’s trunk, and discovered heroin.…

Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U.S. 307; 98 S. Ct. 1816; 56 L. Ed. 2d 305 (1978) Facts—On September 11, 1975, an inspector under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) entered Barlow’s, Inc., an electrical and plumbing…

Zurcher v. The Stanford Daily, 436 U.S. 547; 98 S. Ct. 1920; 56 L. Ed. 2d 525 (1978) Facts—On April 9, 1971, officers from the Palo Alto Police Department and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department were called to the…

Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752; 89 S. Ct. 2034; 23 L. Ed. 2d 685 (1969) Facts—Three police officers searched the entire home of Chimel in Santa Ana, California. The officers had a warrant authorizing his arrest for the burglary…

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1; 88 S. Ct. 1868; 20 L. Ed. 2d 889 (1968) Facts—A seasoned police officer named McFadden observed Terry and two other men repeatedly walking in front of a store as though they were attempting…

Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643; 81 S. Ct. 1684; 6 L. Ed. 2d 1081 (1961) Facts—Cleveland police officers requested admission to a home to seek a fugitive who was reportedly hiding there. They had also received information that a…

Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383; 34 S. Ct. 341 (1914) Facts—Weeks was indicted in a federal court in Missouri for nine counts including use of the mail for transporting illegal lottery tickets. After a police officer arrested Weeks…

United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S. 297; 92 S. Ct. 2125; 32 L. Ed. 2d 752 (1972) Facts—The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ordered the government fully to disclose to defendants information gathered…

Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347; 88 S. Ct. 507; 19 L. Ed. 2d 576 (1967) Facts—A federal District Court in California convicted Charles Katz of violating federal communication statutes by transmitting wagering information by telephone from Los Angeles…

Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438; 48 S. Ct. 564; 72 L. Ed. 944 (1928) Facts—Olmstead, who was the general manager of a business, was convicted of a conspiracy to violate the National Prohibition Act by unlawfully possessing, transporting,…

District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783; 171 L. Ed. 2d 637; 2008 U.S. LEXIS 5268 (2008) Facts—The District of Columbia banned the possession of handguns in the home and required that any other weapon be made inoperable…

Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410; 126 S. Ct. 1951; 164 L. Ed. 2d 689 (2006) Facts—Richard Ceballos, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County who served as a calendar deputy, concluded that an affidavit contained serious misrepresentations, and…

Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393; 127 S. Ct. 2618; 168 L. Ed. 2d 290 (2007) Facts—Joseph Frederick, a high school senior, was suspended after displaying a fourteen-foot banner saying “BONG HITS 4 JESUS” at an Olympic Torch Relay that…

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260; 108 S. Ct. 562; 98 L. Ed. 2d 592 (1988) Facts—Staff members of Spectrum, a high school newspaper, filed a suit against the school district and school officials alleging that the principal…

Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675; 106 S. Ct. 3159; 92 L. Ed. 2d 549 (1986) Facts—Fraser, a student at Bethel High School in Pierce County, Washing- ton, delivered a sexually suggestive speech in nominating a…

Snepp v. United States, 444 U.S. 507; 100 S. Ct. 763; 62 L. Ed. 2d 704 (1980) Facts—As a condition of his employment with the CIA in 1968, Frank Snepp executed an agreement promising that he would “not . .…

Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726; 98 S. Ct. 3026; 57 L. Ed. 2d 1073 (1978) Facts—A satiric humorist, George Carlin, recorded a twelve-minute monologue entitled “Filthy words” before a live audience in a California theater. He…

Feiner v. New York, 340 U.S. 315; 71 S. Ct. 303; 95 L. Ed. 295 (1951) Facts—Irving Feiner, a student at Syracuse University, addressed a street meeting of about seventy-five people, urging them to attend a meeting that night on…