Under the Fourth Amendment, Can a Particular “Search” be Lawful, But an Accompanying Seizure Be Unlawful? The Supreme Court Says “Yes” and Explains How in Bailey v. United States of America

The Fourth Amendment sets forth every citizen’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The two active verbs in the Amendment (i.e. search and seize) are often lumped together, as if part of an indivisible act or one legal concept.

But they are not. In any one case, a search and/or a seizure can occur singly or in combination and can differ in timing, order and consequence. While there is some surface logic to the assumption that a valid search will inevitably beget a valid seizure, this is just not the law.

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