Full case name ' Citations 436 U.S. 547 (more) Date decided 1978 | Docket nos. 76-1484 Concurrence Powell | |
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Majority White, joined by Burger, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist Dissent Stewart, joined by Marshall Similar Branzburg v Hayes, NAACP v Alabama, Near v Minnesota, Roth v United States, Barron v Balti | ||
Zurcher v. Stanford Daily 436 U.S. 547 (1978) is a United States Supreme Court case from 1978 in which The Stanford Daily, a student newspaper at Stanford University, was searched by police after they suspected the paper to be in possession of photographs of a demonstration that took place at the campus' medical center in April 1971. The paper filed a suit claiming that under the protection of the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, the warrants were unconstitutional and that the searches should have fallen under the context of subpoenas. The court ruled against The Stanford Daily; however, Congress passed the Privacy Protection Act of 1980, which prohibits search and seizures related to journalism unless the writer is suspected of a crime or a life-threatening situation is present.
Decision and opinion
Justice White delivered the court's 5–3 opinion in favor of Zurcher.