William J. Brennan, Jr.

Name: Abel v. United States — Dissent
Author: William J. Brennan, Jr.

Summary

“Abel v. United States — Dissent”, is a work by William J. Brennan, Jr.. It explores elements such as the Fourth Amendment, arrest and search.

Quotes from Abel v. United States — Dissent (William J. Brennan, Jr.)

William J. Brennan, Jr., Abel v. United States — Dissent

“ The question is rather whether they furnish a context in which a search generally through premises can be said to be a reasonable one under the Fourth Amendment. These arrest procedures, as exemplified here, differ as night from day from the processes of an arrest for crime. When the power to make a broad, warrantless search is added to them, we create a complete concentration of power in executive officers over the person and effects of the individual. We completely remove any independent control over the powers of executive officers to make searches. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

William J. Brennan, Jr., Abel v. United States — Dissent

“ If the search here were of the sort the Fourth Amendment contemplated, there would be no need for the elaborate, if somewhat pointless, inquiry the Court makes into the 'good faith' of the arrest. Once it is established that a simple executive arrest of one as a deportable alien gives the arresting offices the power to search his premises, what precise state of mind on the part of the officers will make the arrest a 'subterfuge' for the start of criminal proceedings, and render the search unreasonable? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

William J. Brennan, Jr., Abel v. United States — Dissent

“ Yet we must take care to enforce the Constitution without regard to the nature of the crime or the nature of the criminal. The Fourth Amendment protects 'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.' This right is a basic one of all the people, without exception ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

William J. Brennan, Jr., Abel v. United States — Dissent

“ Where a species of arrest is available that is subject to no judicial control, the possibilities become more and more serious. The remedy is not to invite fruitless litigation into the purity of official motives, or the specific direction of official purposes. One may always assume that the officers are zealous to perform their duty. The remedy is rather to recognize that the power to perform a search generally throughout premises upon a purely executive arrest is so unconfined by any safeguards that it cannot be countenanced as consistent with the Fourth Amendment. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

William J. Brennan, Jr., Abel v. United States — Dissent

“ We are told that the governmental power to make a warrantless search might be greater where the object of the search is not related to crime but to some other 'civil' proceeding-such as matter bearing on the issue whether a man should forcibly be sent from the country. The distinction is rather hollow here, where the proofs that turn up are in fact given in evidence in a criminal prosecution. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

William J. Brennan, Jr., Abel v. United States — Dissent

“ They may take any man they think to be a deportable alien into their own custody, hold him without arraignment or bond, and, having been careful to apprehend him at home, make a search generally through his premises. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

William J. Brennan, Jr., Abel v. United States — Dissent

“ An executive procedure as to his deportability was had, at the camp, after a few days, but there was never any independent inquiry or judicial control over the circumstances of the arrest and the seizure till over five weeks after his arrest, when, at the detention camp, he was served with a bench warrant for his arrest on criminal charges, upon an indictment.
The Fourth Amendment imposes substantive standards for searches and seizures; but with them one of the important safeguards it establishes is a procedure ”

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Summary

Quotes from Abel v. United States — Dissent (William J. Brennan, Jr.)

Common terms

Similar works

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature