SCOTUSBlog: Davis v. U.S. argument recap

SCOTUSBlog: Davis v. United States Argument recap: Selling complexity / The Court explores a professor’s complex argument to protect the integrity of the Court’s Fourth Amendment precedents:

It was a complex argument, all about the Court preserving the integrity of its constitutional decision-making, that professor Orin S. Kerr offered to the Justices in Davis v. U.S. (09-11328). And its complexity stood out in quite vivid contrast to the simple — even simplistic — argument that a Justice Department lawyer would make.

While Kerr was at the lectern, the skepticism about his theme ran back and forth across the bench. Still, he was making his points and, as the argument moved on, it became evident that Kerr had stirred some interest, perhaps even sympathetic interest — from several Justices, perhaps most notably Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, often the holder of a decisive vote. He also heard, from Justice Elena Kagan, a compromise way that he could win.

The Davis case is about the so-called “exclusionary rule,” a judge-made doctrine that bars evidence from criminal trials if police got it while violating the Fourth Amendment. Davis focuses specifically on whether the Court will benefit police by expanding one significant exception to that rule: the doctrine that the evidence can be used anyway, if police got it in “good faith,” believing at the time that what they did was legal.