Source: https://richardresjudicata.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/does-history-support-investigative-searches-incident-to-arrest/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 06:29:20+00:00

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Does History Support Investigative Searches Incident To Arrest?
Under Arizona v. Gant, police who have arrested the driver of a car have authority to search the car’s interior when it is “reasonable to believe” that the car contains evidence of the crime of arrest. This holding is anomalous, since it allows for warrantless searches that are purely investigative. Yet the rule established in Gant is poised to expand. In the pending cases United States v. Wurie and Riley v. California (which I discussed here), the governmental parties argued in the alternative for the adoption of a Gant-like rule in the cell phone context. Thus, the Court is now considering whether to allow purely investigative searches of cellphones incident to arrest.
In this post, I’d like to complicate the historical picture that underlies Gant‘s embrace of purely investigative searches incident to arrest. The basic difficulty with that historical picture is this: it derives an authorization for searches from historical cases that govern seizures.
To support the idea of investigative searches incident to arrest, Gant cited Justice Scalia’s concurrence in the judgment in Thornton v. United States. Scalia’s main historical claim was that performing an “evidence-gathering search” incident to arrest finds support in cases establishing “the general interest in gathering evidence related to the crime of arrest.” In Scalia’s view, these cases contain “no mention” of non-investigative interests, such as the “specific interest in preventing [evidence’s] concealment or destruction.” I think that Scalia took the wrong lesson from his cited authorities.
To illustrate and explore the significance of this key distinction, let me focus on the only historical authority that Scalia’s Thornton opinion quotes at any length — namely, Bishop’s 1872 treatise. This source looms very large for Scalia, as he cited it repeatedly, block quoted it, and called it “typical” of the other cited materials. Given all that, one might expect the treatise to state Gant‘s rule of investigative searches. Yet it does not.
Scalia cited a section of the Bishop treatise that is headed “The Seizing of Goods in other Cases of the Arrest of the Person.” So this is a section about seizures, not searches. The first paragraph subheading is more ambiguous on that score, since it at least mentions searches: “Power to Search and take Property from Prisoners.” But this is just another way of referring to the government’s authority to seize “Goods” or “Property” during searches incident to arrest. The treatise section goes on to take for granted the authority to search incident to arrest, without explaining either the proper scope of that authority or its basis (that is, whether it is justified by investigative interests, as opposed to interests like evidence preservation or officer safety).
The officer who arrests a man on a criminal charge should consider the nature of the charge; and, if he finds about the prisoner’s person, or otherwise in his possession, either goods or moneys which there is reason to believe are connected with the supposed crime as its fruits, or as the instruments with which it was committed, or as directly furnishing evidence relating to the transaction, he may take the same, and hold them to be disposed of as the court may direct.
Again, Scalia cited this passage as evidence of a “broader police authority to search for evidence when and where the perpetrator of a crime is lawfully arrested.” Later, Scalia added a “cf.” cite to the above-quoted passage and parenthetically asserted that, according to Bishop, an “officer should ‘consider the nature of the charge’ before searching.” But the passage talks about what to seize, not when to search. In other words, this passage (which references “instruments” and “fruits” and so at least partly tracks the now-abandoned “mere evidence” rule) takes the officer’s search authority for granted and inquires only into what the officer can reasonably seize.
Given its focus on seizures, the cited passage does not support Scalia’s claim that the authority to conduct warrantless searches incident to arrest was historically based on a “general interest in gathering evidence related to the crime of arrest.” Instead, the Bishop passage is entirely compatible with the notion — embraced in modern cases like Chimel v. California (1969) — that the power to search incident to arrest depends upon non-investigative interests, such as preventing destruction of evidence and protecting police. In fact, Scalia himself candidly acknowledged that “Chimel‘s narrower focus on concealment or destruction of evidence also has historical support,” as well as that “Chimel‘s officer-safety rationale has its own pedigree.” A separate set of interests and principles, including the those outlined by Bishop, limited what could be seized.
In sum, when the police can search was (and still is) analytically distinct from what the police can seize. It was thus a leap for Scalia — and, by extension, for the Gant Court — to ground a rule of investigative searches in the history of rules governing seizures. In particular, Bishop’s proposed restriction on what could be seized does not translate into a rule permitting warrantless investigative searches. I hope that the Court does not rely on this aspect of Gant when deciding Wurie and Riley.
Speaking of history, ref: Maryland v. King, #12-207 (2012), Justice Scalia’s dissent concerning DNA evidence, quote: ” …the credulity of the credulous…” statement from Justice Scalia. Our Supreme Court’s Justice, Mr. Scalia doesn’t skim over the issues unquestioning, he is definitely a ‘thinker, and legal analyst’ when anything relates to the logical and legal relevancy of the issues at hand, law/legal wise, Justice Scalia is spot-on, much like the ‘founders’ of the Constitution. I, for one of the many, view Justice Scalia as one of the true ‘Guardians’ of our Constitutional Rights, and not that of one as a ‘gate keeper’ who ‘let’s this in or take’s this out’ of our United States Constitution. Justice Scalia is true defender for what our forefathers laid their bloody bodies down in the fields for and definitely will not be one of the ‘credulous’ when it comes to our Fourth Amendment Rights. In a time of history when, it seems like that some of the people want to chip away, little by little, our Constitutional Rights, until ‘We the People’ no longer have any rights left…! In the ‘Search and Seize’ legal arena, history is currently being made and Justice Scalia, along with our other Supreme Court Justices will surely go down in history, with their Wurie and Riley case decisions…!
1. In light of your view of history (limited as it is to a single treatise) do you believe it was a colossal mistake by Professor Fisher to concede during oral argument (in response to a question by Justice Kennedy) that evidence-gathering is a legitimate justification for searching an arrestee’s possessions incident to his lawful arrest?
2. Do you have thoughts on why the argument that you are making was not put forth by a single party (or their supporting amici) in their briefs or at oral argument? Do you believe that they simply missed the issue? Or do you believe that the history regarding the scope of searches incident to arrest is far murkier than that which you divine (and you assert Justice Scalia incorrectly divined) from reading a paragraph from a single treatise?
3. Since we are discussing arguments that the parties overlooked in Wurie and Riley, any thoughts on the impact of the safety/identity rule set forth in Maryland v. King on those cases?
King, as you know, held that warrantless, suspicionless, nonconsensual searches of DNA seized from a person arrested for a serious offense (by conducting a swab search of their mouth at the time they are booked into custody) was reasonable under the 4A.
The Court’s reasonableness determination was based upon the fact that connecting the arrestee to an unsolved crime (via the CODIS database) served important safety considerations, including protecting all the occupants of the jail (by determining the complete identity/criminal history of the arrestee) and protecting the public (from being victimized by an arrestee whose complete identity/criminal history, determined via a DNA hit, might tip off the authorities that he is not a suitable candidate for pre-trial release).
Both Wurie and Riley were booked into custody for serious offenses. At that time the authorities did not know their complete identities/criminal histories. But, like the DNA seized from King’s mouth by the search of his person incident to his arrest, their cellphones (modern day diaries) could contain information that would be highly relevant to safety issues, including the safety of the other occupants of the jail and, to the extent pre-trial release was being contemplated, the safety of the public.
Any thoughts on whether or not King’s evidence-gathering, safety/identity, reasoning has any logical applicability to the issues in Wurie and Riley?

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