| Carroll doctrine | The ruling, from the Supreme Court's decision in Carroll v. United States, that warrantless searches of vehicles are permissible where reasonable suspicion of illegal actions exists.
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| Chimel v. California | The Supreme Court ruling that a search incident to a lawful arrest in a home must be limited to the area into which an arrestee might reach in order to grab a weapon or other evidentiary items.
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| Delaware v. Prouse | The Supreme Court ruling that police may not randomly stop motorists, without any probable cause to suspect crime or illegal activity, to check their driver's license and auto registration.
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| Escobedo v. Illinois | The Supreme Court ruling that when the process shifts from the investigatory to the accusatory and its purpose is to elicit a confession, the accused must be permitted to consult with his or her attorney.
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| exclusionary rule | The judicially established rule that prohibits, in court, the use of illegally obtained evidence.
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| Florida v. Bostick | The Supreme Court ruling that police officers' conduct in boarding stopped passenger buses and approaching seated passengers to ask them questions and to request consent to search their luggage does not constitute a Fourth Amendment "seizure" in every instance but, instead, must be evaluated in each case.
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| fruit of the poisonous tree | The doctrine that evidence seized illegally is considered "tainted" and cannot be used against a suspect.
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| Illinois v. Gates | The Supreme Court ruling that in establishing probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant, magistrates may make a commonsense decision, given all the circumstance set forth in an affidavit, whether there is a fair probability that contraband can be found in a particular place.
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| Illinois v. Wardlow | The Supreme Court ruling that flight at the mere sight of a police officer could often, in the context of other factors, be suspicious enough to justify police in conducting a stop-and-frisk.
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| Indianapolis v. Edmond | The Supreme Court ruling that police checkpoints aimed at discovering drugs were in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
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| Mapp v. Ohio | The Supreme Court ruling that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment must be excluded from use in the state as well as federal trials.
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| Minnesota v. Dickerson | The Supreme Court ruling that established the "plain feel" doctrine: that an object a police officer detects on a suspect's person during the course of a valid protective frisk under Terry v. Ohio may be seized without a warrant if the officer's sense of touch makes it immediately apparent to the officer that the object, though not threatening in nature, is contraband.
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| Miranda v. Arizona | The Supreme Court ruling that the guarantee of due process requires that suspects in police custody be informed that they have the right to remain silent, that anything they say may be used against them, and that they have the right to counsel—before any questioning can permissibly take place.
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| "plain view" doctrine | The rule, from the Supreme Court decision in Harris v. United States, that anything a police officer sees in plain view, when that officer has a right to be where he or she is, is not the product of a search and is therefore admissible as evidence.
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| probable cause | Facts or apparent facts that are reliable and generate a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed.
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| protective sweep doctrine | The rule that when police officers execute an arrest on or outside private premises, they may conduct a warrantless examination of the entire premises for other persons whose presence would pose a threat, either to their safety or to evidence capable of being removed or destroyed.
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| Rochin v. California | The Supreme Court ruling that evidence acquired in a manner that "shocks the conscience" is in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
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| search and seizure | The search for and taking of persons and property as evidence of crime.
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| search warrant | A written order, issued by a magistrate and directed to a law enforcement officer, commanding a search of a specified premises.
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| Terry v. Ohio | The Supreme Court ruling that when a police officer observes unusual conduct and suspects a crime is about to be committed, he may frisk a suspect's outer clothing for dangerous weapons.
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| United States v. Leon | The Supreme Court ruling that the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule does not bar the use of evidence obtained by police officers acting in objectively reasonable reliance on a search warrant issued by a magistrate but ultimately found to be unsupported by probable cause.
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| United States v. Wade | The Supreme Court ruling that a police lineup identification of a suspect made without the suspect's attorney present is inadmissible as evidence at trial.
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| Weeks v. United States | The Supreme Court ruling that a person whose Fourth Amendment rights of security against unreasonable search and seizure are violated by federal agents has the right to require that evidence obtained in the search be excluded from use against him or her in federal courts.
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