Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 425

524US2

Unit: $U90

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380

PENNSYLVANIA BD. OF PROBATION
AND PAROLE v. SCOTT
Souter, J., dissenting

and Parole.” App. 7a. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
held the consent insufﬁcient to waive any requirement that
searches be supported by reasonable suspicion,3 and in the
absence of any such waiver, the State was bound to justify
its search by what the Court has described as information
indicating the likelihood of facts justifying the search. Grif-
ﬁn v. Wisconsin, 483 U. S. 868 (1987) (dealing with the analo-
gous context of probation revocation). The State makes no
It describes the
claim here to have satisﬁed this standard.
parole agent’s knowledge as rising no further than “the pos-
sibility of the presence of weapons in Scott’s home,” Brief
for Petitioner 7, and rests on the argument that not even
reasonable suspicion was required.

Because the search violated the Fourth Amendment, and
because I conclude that the exclusionary rule ought to apply
to parole revocation proceedings, I would afﬁrm the decision
of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

3 See 548 Pa. 418, 426, 698 A. 2d 32, 35–36 (1997) (“ ‘[T]he parolee’s sign-
ing of a parole agreement giving his parole ofﬁcer permission to conduct
a warrantless search does not mean either that the parole ofﬁcer can con-
duct a search at any time and for any reason or that the parolee relin-
quishes his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable
searches. Rather, the parolee’s signature acts as acknowledgement that
the parole ofﬁcer has a right to conduct reasonable searches of his
residence listed on the parole agreement without a warrant’ ”) (quoting
Commonwealth v. Williams, 547 Pa. 577, 588, 692 A. 2d 1031, 1036 (1997)).
Since Pennsylvania has not sought review of this conclusion, I do not look
behind it, or offer any opinion on whether the terms and sufﬁciency of
such a waiver are to be scrutinized under state or federal law.