Home : Police Practices : Search and Seizure

LAPD Skid Row Officers Banned from Unlawful Searches under Settlement with the ACLU/SC and National Lawyers Guild (12/18/2008)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Los Angeles City Council has approved a settlement that bans LAPD officers patrolling Skid Row from conducting unconstitutional searches of homeless individuals, and requires that officers undergo crucial training regarding the constitutional requirements to search and detain people.

MCLU Defends Privacy Rights of ATV Riders (11/14/2008)
PORTLAND — Today, the Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief with the Maine Law Court in support of the Fourth Amendment rights of All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) riders. The case, Maine v. McKeen, involved an ATV rider who was stopped by a game warden without justification. The State claimed that Maine statute authorizes game wardens to detain ATV riders for any reason, but the Superior Court in Aroostook County said that game wardens were bound by the Fourth Amendment prohibition on "unreasonable search and seizure." The State of Maine has appealed the order.

NYCLU Says New NYPD Stop-and-Frisk Database Raises Major Privacy Concerns (02/05/2007)
NEW YORK - The New York Civil Liberties Union today raised major concerns about the revelation that the New York City Police Department is compiling a massive new database of law-abiding New Yorkers, mostly black and Hispanic, who have been stopped by the police. The NYCLU demanded that the NYPD take immediate steps to protect the privacy rights of persons who are stopped and frisked but not convicted of a crime.

ACLU of Southern California Acts to Stop Arbitrary Skid Row Searches (12/08/2006)
LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, civil rights attorney Carol Sobel, and law firm Hadsell & Stormer today asked a court to extend a 2003 agreement that prohibits L.A. police from searching Skid Row residents without reasonable suspicion that they have committed a crime or violated parole or probation.

Nine Mile Falls School District Abandons Drug-Sniffing Dog Searches (03/30/2006)
SPOKANE, WA – In response to a threatened lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and the Center for Justice, the Nine Mile Falls School District has stopped using drug-sniffing dogs to search its middle and high school students.

Subway Search - Final Complaint (08/04/2005)

ACLU Amicus Brief in Arizona v. Gant (08/29/2003)

ACLU Amicus Brief in Maryland v. Pringle (08/29/2003)

ACLU Amicus Brief in Illinois v. Lidster (08/29/2003)

ACLU Complaint in Scott v. Bevard (05/08/2002)

Letter to the House Urging Rejection on the Final Version of the USA PATRIOT Act (10/23/2001)

Letter to the Senate Urging Rejection on the Final Version of the USA PATRIOT Act (10/23/2001)

How the Anti-Terrorism Bill Expands Law Enforcement "Sneak and Peek" Warrants (10/23/2001)

Testimony of Legislative Counsel Timothy Edgar Before the United States Commission on Civil Rights On Changes in Immigration Detention Practices and the Impact of Proposed Legislation on the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of Citizens and Immigrants (10/12/2001)

Letter to the House Urging Them to Vote "No" on the PATRIOT Act (10/12/2001)

NYCLU Challenge to Subway Searches: Background on the Plaintiffs (08/04/2005)