Court Opinion

ID: 9467336
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:45:37.826142+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:17.557809
License: Public Domain

McKAY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the search and seizure at issue here is governed by the federal standards of the Fourth Amendment and Fed.R.Crim.P. 41, particularly the requirement of Rule 41(c)(1) that “[t]he warrant shall be directed to a civil officer of the United States authorized to enforce or assist in enforcing any law thereof or to a person so authorized by the President of the United States.” The tenor of this rule makes clear that the officer to whom the warrant is directed must be the one who executes it.1 The majority concedes that the quoted provision was violated in this case insofar as the warrant whose fruits formed the basis of defendants’ convictions was not executed by a “civil officer of the United States” or by one authorized by the President to assist in enforcing federal law. Even so, the majority adopts the “harmless error” rule of United States v. Burke, 517 F.2d 377 (2d Cir. 1975) and declines to suppress this tainted evidence.
Burke’s policy of being “wary in extending the exclusionary rule in search and seizure cases to violations which are not of constitutional magnitude,” 517 F.2d at 386, should be viewed with a degree of skepti*1392cism.2 The Supreme Court “in a number of areas has recognized or developed exclusionary rules where evidence has been gained in violation of the accused’s rights under the Constitution, federal statutes, or federal rules of procedure.” United States v. Blue, 384 U.S. 251, 255, 86 S.Ct. 1416, 1419, 16 L.Ed.2d 510 (1966) (emphasis added). The dispositive question, then, is not whether the error before us is of constitutional magnitude but whether the relevant language of Rule 41(c)(1) expresses a concern important enough to warrant vindication by a rule that excludes evidence obtained in violation of that language.
The portion of Rule 41(c)(1) at issue here has been a subject of judicial concern primarily during the prohibition era. At that time, several “rum-runners” sought to challenge convictions that were based on evidence seized pursuant to warranted searches by federal prohibition agents. The issue in these cases was whether such agents were “civil officer[s] of the United States” as required by Rule 41’s antecedent.3 The courts found that federal prohibition agents were “civil officer[s] of the United States.” See Steele v. United States, 267 U.S. 505, 45 S.Ct. 417, 69 L.Ed. 761 (1925). At no time, however, did the courts assume that evidence seized by prohibition agents would be admissible if the agents had not been found to be “civil officers” within the meaning of the statute. On the contrary, several of the courts stressed the reasons for which only federal officers may execute federal search warrants:
Congress regarded it as essential that a search warrant should be directed only to an officer or class of officers authorized to enforce or assist in enforcing the laws of the United States, and should be executed only by the officer or class of officers to whom it was directed.
Leonard v. United States, 6 F.2d 353, 355 (1st Cir. 1925);
[UJnder the Espionage Act service of these drastic processes [i.e., executing search warrants] was not committed to casual or even to regular agents or employees of a bureau; it was committed only to “civil officers” . .. holder[s] of a public station, which embraces the idea of tenure, duration, emolument and duties, and is regarded as assuring a legal and proper exercise of power.
Keehn v. United States, 300 F. 493, 502-03 (1st Cir. 1924) (Anderson, J., dissenting).
[Search warrants] are necessary in the execution of government power, and the right to their use is fundamental and lawful; but the courts rarely exercise a more vitally important function than to preserve absolutely inviolate every constitutional and legislative safeguard against the abuse of such process.
The clearly stated limitation concerning the issuance of search warrants is that the commissioner “must issue a search warrant to a civil officer of the United States duly authorized to assist in enforcing any law thereof,” and the inquiry *1393simply is whether the prohibition agent is “a civil officer of the United States Jf
United States v. Musgrave, 293 F. 203, 205 (D.Neb.1923);
There are (among others) four substantial guards against abuse of process provided [in Title XI of the Espionage Act of 1917, Rule 41’s precursor].... [T]he fourth is that the writ must be directed to those selected for their approved judgment and discretion, by whom alone the writ may be executed.
United States v. Innelli, 286 F. 731, 732 (E.D.Pa.1923).
The policy underlying the clear limitation of Rule 41(c)(1), which was so forcibly explicated by the courts charged with its original application, should apply with equal force today.4 A federal warrant must be directed to and executed by federal officers. If it is not, evidence seized on the basis of its authority should not be admitted into evidence to prove a violation of a federal statute. Because it is undisputed in this case that the warrant in question was not executed by a federal officer, I would remand this case to the district court for further consideration in light of the principles I have articulated in this opinion.

. It may be that federal warrants need not be directed to a specific person, see United States v. Clancy, 276 F.2d 617, 629 (7th Cir. 1960), rev’d on other grounds, 365 U.S. 312, 81 S.Ct. 645, 5 L.Ed.2d 574 (1961); but see United States v. Soriano, 482 F.2d 469, 478 (5th Cir. 1973), and that non-federal officers can assist a federal officer in executing a federal warrant, see United States v. Martin, 600 F.2d 1175, 1181-82 (5th Cir. 1979), but no case has suggested that the one to whom a federal warrant is directed should not at least be present during its execution.

. A recent amendment to Rule 41(c) states: “Absent a finding of bad faith, evidence obtained pursuant to a warrant issued under this paragraph is not subject to a motion to suppress on the ground that the circumstances were not such as to make it reasonable to dispense with a written affidavit.” Rule 41(c)(2)(G). This provision implies that Congress intends that material violations of Rule 41 often must, upon proper motion, result in suppression of the evidence obtained pursuant to such a violation, and that any deviation from this general exclusionary rule should be based upon an express statutory exception such as Rule 41(c)(2)(G).

. Rule 41’s precursor was Section 6 of Title XI of the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917, ch. 30, 40 Stat. 217, 229, which also limited the execution of search warrants to “civil officer[s] of the United States.” The legislative history on the part of the Espionage Act dealing with warrants is sparse: “This Title [Title XI] . . . was based upon the New York law on this subject, and follows generally the policy of that law.” H.R. Rep. No. 69, 65th Cong., 1st Sess. (1917), quoted in 55 Cong.Rec. 3307 (1917).

. Whatever its applicability in other contexts, the “harmless error” rule relied upon by the majority should be rejected whenever, as here, Rule 41 promotes a significant articulable interest. The reasoning which requires that evidence seized without a warrant is to be suppressed even though a magistrate would have issued a warrant had it been applied for applies here:
A . . . rule “that evidence sufficient to support a magistrate’s disinterested determination to issue a search warrant will justify the officers in making a search without a warrant would reduce the [Fourth] Amendment to a nullity and leave the people’s homes secure only in the discretion of police officers.” . . . Under such a rule “resort to [warrants] would ultimately be discouraged.”
Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 111, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 1512, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964) (quoting Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 14, 68 S.Ct. 367, 369, 92 L.Ed. 436 (1948) and Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 270, 80 S.Ct. 725, 735, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960)).