Opinion ID: 724943
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Fourth Amendment and the Colonnade-Biswell Exception

Text: 10 Argent argues that, although the drugs were seized pursuant to a warrant issued in accordance with the Act, the seizure violated the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures and its requirement that warrants issue upon probable cause. We conclude, however, that Argent's argument is defeated by the nature of its business and the regulation to which it is subject. 11 The Fourth Amendment applies to commercial premises as well as to private homes, See v. City of Seattle, 387 U.S. 541, 546, 87 S.Ct. 1737, 1741, 18 L.Ed.2d 943 (1967), but under the so-called Colonnade-Biswell exception, warrantless searches and seizures on commercial property used in closely regulated industries are constitutionally permissible. Colonnade Catering Corp. v. United States, 397 U.S. 72, 90 S.Ct. 774, 25 L.Ed.2d 60 (1970); United States v. Biswell, 406 U.S. 311, 92 S.Ct. 1593, 32 L.Ed.2d 87 (1972). Persons engaging in pervasively regulated industries have a diminished expectation of privacy. New York v. Burger, 482 U.S. 691, 702, 107 S.Ct. 2636, 2643-44, 96 L.Ed.2d 601 (1987); Biswell, 406 U.S. at 316, 92 S.Ct. at 1596. With regard to such industries, Congress has broad authority to fashion standards of reasonableness for searches and seizures. Colonnade, 397 U.S. at 77, 90 S.Ct. at 777. Thus in Colonnade and Biswell, the Court held that there was no constitutional violation when the businesses of dispensing liquor and selling firearms, respectively, were subjected to inspections and seizures without a warrant issued by a judicial officer upon probable cause. 12 Argent asserts that it is not subject to the Colonnade-Biswell exception for two reasons: first, its veterinary drug business is not the kind of industry that is subject to the Colonnade-Biswell exception; and second, the Colonnade-Biswell exception does not extend to a separate and particularized seizure of misbranded or adulterated goods. We reject both contentions. 13