Fourth Amendment does not allow police to extend duration of a traffic stop, even for a “de minimis” time period, for reasons unrelated the matter for which the stop was made.
A. Kennedy
Maryland v. King, No. 12–207, __ U.S. __ (June 3, 2013).
When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and they bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
Missouri v. McNeely, No. 11–1425, __U.S. __ (April 17, 2013).
Rejects argument that “the natural metabolization of alcohol in the bloodstream presents a per se exigency that justifies an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement for nonconsensual blood testing in all drunk-driving cases,” and holds instead “that exigency in this context must be determined case by case based on the totality of the circumstances.”
Bailey v. United States, No. 11–770, __ U.S. __ (Feb. 19, 2013).
The Fourth Amendment rule allowing occupants of premises to be temporarily seized while a warrant is executed is limited to persons “in the immediate vicinity” of the premises to be searched.
Missouri v. Fry, No. 10–444, 566 U.S. __ (Mar. 21, 2012).
The Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel imposes on defense counsel “the duty to communicate formal offers from the prosecution to accept a plea on terms and conditions that may be favorable to the accused.”