A legislative committee is preparing to consider a bill that would restrict conservation wardens' ability to enter private land to enforce Wisconsin law.

Tagged with: Adam Jarchow Fourth Amendment

A majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court justices expanded the contours of the community-caretaker exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement even while embarrassing themselves through the way they reached their decision.

Tagged with: Bench Blog community caretaker function Fourth Amendment Jean DiMotto

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that a parking garage that lies beneath an apartment building and has locked entrances is not protected curtilage under the Fourth Amendment.

Tagged with: Ann Walsh Bradley Bench Blog Donald Hassin Fourth Amendment Jean DiMotto Lisa Neubauer Pat Roggensack Paul Reilly Wisconsin Supreme Court

"Should police automatically have the right to search the vehicle of someone arrested on suspicion of OWI? Or should they have to show that they have some reason, particular to the driver who was arrested, to believe that OWI-related evidence will be found in the vehicle?"

Tagged with: drunken driving Fourth Amendment

The Wisconsin Supreme Court says Waukesha police didn't violate a man's constitutional rights when they pursued him into a parking structure on suspicion of drunken driving.

Tagged with: Fourth Amendment Wisconsin Supreme Court

In recent years, some of the biggest cases before the United States Supreme Court have dealt with how Fourth Amendment protections should apply in modern circumstances.

Tagged with: Anthony Cotton Fourth Amendment On the Defensive

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling and reinstated a fourth drunken driving conviction against a Madison-area man.

Tagged with: drunken driving Fourth Amendment Wisconsin Supreme Court

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will take two new cases this term.

Tagged with: Fourth Amendment Wisconsin Supreme Court

Justice Antonin Scalia has been the target of considerable invective, largely because of his support for the death penalty.

Tagged with: Anthony Cotton Antonin Scalia Florida v. Jardines Fourth Amendment Kuchler & Cotton SCOTUS U.S. Supreme Court

Is a teenager capable of consenting to wear a wire? The Court of Appeals recently addressed this issue of first impression in Wisconsin.

Tagged with: Bench Blog Fourth Amendment Jean DiMotto Michael Gage

In a rare unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in Riley v. California that police must secure a warrant before searching a cellphone owned by a criminal suspect.

Tagged with: Anthony Cotton Fourth Amendment GPS Kuchler & Cotton On the Defensive privacy search warrant U.S. Supreme Court

The Wisconsin Supreme Court – while not always agreeing on the basis for its decisions – upheld two homicide cases Thursday where police found suspects by tracking their cellphones without a warrant.

Tagged with: Byron Lichstein cellphone Fourth Amendment Pat Roggensack Shirley Abrahamson Wisconsin Supreme Court

A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that a police officer knocking on the window of a car does not by itself violate a person's constitutional right against unreasonable seizures.

Tagged with: Annette Ziegler David Prosser Fourth Amendment Michael Gableman Pat Roggensack Patrick Crooks Wisconsin Supreme Court

Even though there was “no dispute” that a sheriff’s deputy lacked probable cause, the Court of Appeals ruled he did not violate state law or a defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights when requesting a blood draw at the scene of a fatal crash.

Tagged with: Fourth Amendment Patrick Taggart

Criminal defense attorneys are expressing concerns about a recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court holding that a vehicle search based on an anonymous 911 call was constitutional.

Tagged with: Antonin Scalia Clarence Thomas Fourth Amendment

Applying centuries-old constitutional principles to situations not contemplated by the Founding Fathers is nothing new for the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tagged with: Anthony Kennedy Elena Kagan Fourth Amendment Samuel Alito

When is a Terry “stop and frisk” permissible under the Fourth Amendment in “a very high-volume … crime area with a lot of gun violence?” The District I Court of Appeals recently provided guidance.

Tagged with: Bench Blog Fourth Amendment Jean DiMotto

Faced with a pair of cases raising the issue of warrantless searching of arrestees’ cellphones, the U.S. Supreme Court will again need to apply centuries-old constitutional principles to rapidly changing technologies.

Tagged with: ACLU cellphone Fourth Amendment U.S. Supreme Court Warrantless searches

Evidence that was obtained illegally does not immediately invalidate a search warrant, if the requesting officer believed he or she was acting lawfully at the time, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

Tagged with: David Borowski Fourth Amendment Joan Kessler Kitty Brennan Search warrants Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Convicted murderer Jack E. Johnson asked the Wisconsin Court of Appeals to find that a warrantless search conducted in Mexico, which violated U.S. Fourth Amendment protections, should also be viewed as a bad search by Wisconsin courts.

Tagged with: Court of Appeals Fourth Amendment Jack Johnson Justin Welch

During a lively oral argument Wednesday, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed torn over whether police can conduct a warrantless search of a home over the previous objection of a tenant when a co-tenant subsequently consents.

Tagged with: Elena Kagan Fourth Amendment John Roberts Sonia Sotomayor Stephen Breyer U.S. Supreme Court Warrantless searches

The U.S. Supreme Court has changed course after nearly 50 years by deciding that the touchstone of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is trespass to a property interest, not reasonable expectation of privacy.

Tagged with: Bench Blog Court of Appeals Florida v. Jardines Fourth Amendment GPS Jean DiMotto Milwaukee County Circuit Court

The U.S. Supreme Court may soon address an issue it has carefully avoided until now: how much privacy Americans enjoy regarding their cellphones.

Tagged with: 7th Circuit cellphone Fourth Amendment U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court may soon addresses an issue it has carefully avoided until now: Just how much privacy do Americans enjoy in the information contained within and emanating from their cellphones?

Tagged with: 7th Circuit cellphone Fourth Amendment privacy Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor U.S. Supreme Court Warrantless searches

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision paved the way for an Assembly bill, proposed Monday, that would allow law enforcement to obtain a warrant to draw blood in cases involving first-time operating while intoxicated suspects.

Tagged with: Andre Jacque Fourth Amendment warrantless blood draws

Most lawyers have assumed that the Constitution is unambiguous in preserving one’s right to remain silent.

Tagged with: Anthony Cotton Constitution Fifth Amendment Fourth Amendment On the Defensive U.S. Supreme Court

The Wisconsin Supreme Court next term will review cases involving the UW System Board of Regents, the state Department of Corrections and others.

Tagged with: AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion Fourth Amendment Wisconsin Supreme Court

A judge has ruled that evidence involving drug charges against an Idaho woman can't be used because a police traffic stop turned into a 28-minute interrogation that violated Idaho case law and the U.S. Constitution.

Tagged with: Fourth Amendment

Congress hatched the idea of fusion centers in the aftermath of the Sept.11, 2011, terrorist attacks.

Tagged with: Anthony Cotton Fourth Amendment invasion of privacy On the Defensive

Police must obtain a search warrant in many cases to draw blood to get evidence of drunken driving, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a divided opinion in a case involving a Missouri man.

Tagged with: Anthony Kennedy Fourth Amendment Missouri v. McNeely U.S. Supreme Court