Case Law Library
Comprehensive summaries of landmark Supreme Court rulings that define your constitutional rights. Each case includes the holding, significance, and practical application for real-world encounters.
Holding
The First Amendment protects the right to record police officers performing their duties in public spaces.
Holding
The First Amendment right to record police officers in public is clearly established, and officers who violate this right are not entitled to qualified immunity.
Holding
Illinois' eavesdropping statute, which criminalized recording police officers without their consent, violates the First Amendment.
Holding
Police may conduct a limited pat-down search for weapons if they have reasonable suspicion that a person is armed and dangerous, even without probable cause for arrest.
Holding
When police detain a person without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, any evidence obtained as a result of that illegal detention must be suppressed.
Holding
Police cannot extend a traffic stop beyond the time necessary to handle the matter for which the stop was made, absent reasonable suspicion of additional criminal activity.
Holding
Consent to search must be voluntary, but police are not required to inform individuals that they have the right to refuse consent.
Holding
The government must obtain a warrant supported by probable cause before acquiring cell-site location information (CSLI) from wireless carriers.
Holding
Police generally may not search digital information on a cell phone seized from an individual who has been arrested without a warrant.
Holding
Statements made during custodial interrogation are inadmissible unless the suspect was informed of their right to remain silent and to have an attorney present, and voluntarily waived those rights.
Holding
A suspect's silence during interrogation does not invoke the right to remain silent; the suspect must unambiguously invoke the right, and subsequent statements can constitute a waiver.
Holding
A defendant's silence in response to police questioning before arrest can be used against them at trial if they did not expressly invoke their Fifth Amendment right.
Holding
The prosecution cannot comment on a defendant's failure to testify at trial, and the jury cannot be instructed that silence is evidence of guilt.
Holding
The Sixth Amendment right to counsel is a fundamental right essential to a fair trial, and states must provide attorneys to defendants who cannot afford them in criminal cases.
Holding
To prove ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must show that their attorney's performance was deficient and that this deficiency prejudiced the defense.
Holding
Evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment cannot be used in state criminal prosecutions (exclusionary rule applies to states through the Fourteenth Amendment).
Holding
The prosecution must disclose to the defense any evidence favorable to the accused that is material to guilt or punishment.
Holding
Government officials are entitled to qualified immunity from civil damages unless their conduct violated clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.
Holding
Courts are not required to first determine whether a constitutional right was violated before deciding whether the right was clearly established for qualified immunity purposes.
Holding
Border Patrol checkpoints away from the border do not violate the Fourth Amendment, and agents may stop vehicles for brief questioning without individualized suspicion.
Case law shows how courts have addressed constitutional rights over time. But to truly understand rights enforcement, explore the 800-year evolution of accountability mechanisms that protect these rights.
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