Court Opinion

ID: 9425608
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:15:12.714127+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:56.486385
License: Public Domain

Me. Justice Brennan,
with whom Me. Justice Marshall joins, dissenting.
I would not limit the remand to the determination whether Mrs. Graff was in fact a joint occupant of the bedroom with sufficient authority to consent to the search. In my view the determination is also required that Mrs. Graff consented knowing that she was not required to consent. “It wholly escapes me how our citizens can meaningfully be said to have waived something as precious as a constitutional guarantee without ever being aware of its existence.” Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U. S. 218, 277 (1973) (Brennan, J., dissenting). I would hold that an individual cannot effectively waive this right if he is totally ignorant of the fact that, in the absence of his consent, such invasions of privacy would be constitutionally prohibited.