Opinion ID: 1811320
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the conformity amendment

Text: Initially, I would recognize the primacy of our state constitution and decide this case under article I, section 12, Florida Constitution, rather than under the United States Supreme Court's Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. In November 1982, the people of Florida by general election amended section 12 as follows: Searches and seizures.  The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and against the unreasonable interception of private communications by any means, shall not be violated. No warrant shall be issued except upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, particularly describing the place or places to be searched, the person or persons, thing or things to be seized, the communication to be intercepted, and the nature of evidence to be obtained. This right shall be construed in conformity with the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court. Articles or information obtained in violation of this right shall not be admissible in evidence if such articles or information would be inadmissible under decisions of the United States Supreme Court construing the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution. (Emphasis denotes amendment.) The ballot statement provided: Constitutional Amendment Article I, section 12 SEARCHES AND SEIZURES.  Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to provide that the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures shall be construed in conformity with the 4th Amendment to the United States constitution and to provide that illegally seized articles or information are inadmissible if decisions of the United States Supreme Court make such evidence inadmissible. HJR 31-H, 1982 Fla. Laws 2200. This Court subsequently addressed the divisive issue of whether the amendment requires conformity to only those decisions of the federal Court rendered prior to the election, or to those decisions rendered both before and after: To summarize, we hold (1) the 1982 amendment to article I, section 12, of the Florida Constitution brings this state's search and seizure laws into conformity with all decisions of the United States Supreme Court rendered before and subsequent to the adoption of that amendment... . Bernie v. State, 524 So.2d 988 (Fla. 1988). I note that the decision in Bernie elicited five separate written opinions by the Justices, including spirited dissents, with only three Justices joining completely in the per curiam opinion.