Girish Mahajan (Editor)

United States v. Rabinowitz

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Citations
  
339 U.S. 56 (more)

Date
  
1950

Dissent
  
Black

Full case name
  
United States v. Rabinowitz

Majority
  
Minton, joined by Vinson, Reed, Burton, Clark

Dissent
  
Frankfurter, joined by Jackson

United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56 (1950), was a United States Supreme Court case which the Court held that warrantless searches immediately following an arrest are constitutional. The decision overturned Trupiano v. United States (1948), which had banned such searches.

Contents

Background

Albert J. Rabinowitz was arrested in his office on February 16, 1943, for selling forged U.S. postage stamps to an undercover federal officer. Federal agents then conducted a warrantless 90 min search of the office, finding an additional 573 forged stamps. Rabinowitz unsuccessfully moved to exclude this evidence from his subsequent trial, but the motion was denied. He was convicted, but the appellate court reversed the verdict and ruled his rights under the Fourth Amendment had been violated.

Opinion of the Court

The US Supreme Court reversed the Appeals Court ruling in a 5-3 decision. Writing for the majority, Justice Sherman Minton wrote that only "unreasonable" searches were banned under the Fourth Amendment; searching the office of a suspected forger at the site of his lawful arrest was held to be reasonable.

References

United States v. Rabinowitz Wikipedia