The Supreme Court and the Fourth Amendment's Exclusionary Rule

by Tracey Maclin

Overview

The application of the Fourth Amendment's Exclusionary Rule has divided the Justices of the Supreme Court for nearly a century. As the legal remedy for when police violate the Fourth Amendment rights of a person and discover criminal evidence through illegal search and seizure, it is the most frequently litigated constitutional issue in United States courts. Tracey Maclin's The Supreme Court and the Fourth Amendment's Exclusionary Rule traces the rise and fall of the exclusionary rule using insight and behind-the-scenes access into the Court's thinking. Based on original archival research into the private papers of retired Justices, Professor Maclin's analysis clarifies the motivations and thoughts that explain the Court's exclusionary rule jurisprudence. He includes a comprehensive scholarly and objective discussion of the reasoning behind the Court decisions, and demonstrates that like other constitutional doctrines, the exclusionary rule is a political mechanism that expands and contracts as the times and Justices change. Ultimately, this book will help readers understand how constitutional law is constructed by judges with diverse political perspectives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199996438
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/22/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Tracey Maclin is Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law where he has taught law school courses on constitutional law, criminal procedure and the Supreme Court for the past twenty-five years. In 1995, he was awarded the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching, Boston University's highest teaching prize and has previously taught at Cornell Law School and Harvard Law School. Professor Maclin has written many law review articles on the Fourth Amendment, including articles published in such journals as the Cato Supreme Court Review, the Cornell Law Review, the Southern California Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review, the Michigan Law Review and the Boston University Law Review. In addition to his legal scholarship, he has authored over a dozen amicus curiae briefs and served as counsel of record for the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Cato Institute in Fourth Amendment cases in the United States Supreme Court. He has also served as law clerk to Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Table of Contents

Introduction Acknowledgments

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"This overview only begins to give a sense of the breadth and encyclopedic detail of the book. The book examines not just the seminal exclusionary cases, but the minor ones as well. It also describes the fits, starts, and the near misses...It is this level of detail which makes the book so rewarding" -Bennett Capers, Tulsa Law Review

"Tracey Maclin's book on the exclusionary rule is one of the best books ever written about the Fourth Amendment. It is also one of the best books about how the Court creates constitutional doctrine. Maclin's book is based on exhaustive research with primary sources - principally, papers of justices that include letters, memos, notes from conferences, and drafts of opinions. By drawing on these sources, Maclin tells a behind-the-scenes story that unveils the deeper meaning of the published opinions." -George C. Thomas III, Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law

From the Publisher