Amendment IV · Bill of Rights
Fourth Amendment: Searches and seizures; warrants
About 15 min total: 5 min reading + 10 min for its 9 practice questions
No unreasonable searches and seizures; warrants require probable cause, sworn and specific.
- Proposed by Congress
- September 25, 1789
- Ratified
- December 15, 1791
- Group
- Bill of Rights
The text
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Text: National Archives transcription of the amendments in their original form (spelling and punctuation as in the original).
What it means
- Police and other government agents generally may not search you, your home, or your belongings, or seize evidence, unless the search is reasonable.
- A warrant must be issued on probable cause, backed by an oath, and must describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
- Evidence taken illegally generally cannot be used in court (the exclusionary rule).
Who proposed it
James Madison of Virginia introduced the proposals in the House of Representatives on June 8, 1789. He drew on state declarations of rights, especially George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), and on the amendments the state ratifying conventions had recommended. The House approved 17 amendments; the Senate cut and combined them to 12, and Congress sent those 12 to the states on September 25, 1789.
When it was proposed and ratified
- Proposed by Congress: September 25, 1789. Congress approved the 12-article joint resolution (House September 24, Senate September 25, 1789).
- Ratified: December 15, 1791. Virginia became the 11th of the 14 states to ratify, completing ratification of Articles 3–12 of the 1789 resolution (Amendments 1–10).
Amendments are not signed into law. Congress proposes them by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and they become part of the Constitution when three-fourths of the states ratify. The President has no formal role (Article V).
Why it was made
The Constitution of 1787 had no bill of rights. Anti-Federalists such as George Mason, who refused to sign it partly for this reason, warned that a strong national government could trample individual liberties. Several states ratified only after recommending amendments, and Federalists promised to add them. Madison kept that promise in the First Congress. The amendments limited only the federal government until the Supreme Court began applying most of them to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment (selective incorporation).
Before the Revolution, British officials used writs of assistance, general warrants that let customs officers search almost anywhere for smuggled goods. James Otis argued against them in Boston in 1761, and the anger they caused helped fuel the Revolution.
Key Supreme Court cases
- Mapp v. Ohio (1961): Exclusionary rule applies to the states
FCLE tips
- Key terms: probable cause, warrant, unreasonable search, exclusionary rule.
| This | With this |
|---|---|
| 4th: search and seizure, warrants | 5th: self-incrimination, double jeopardy, due process |
| Mapp v. Ohio: illegally seized evidence excluded | Miranda v. Arizona: warnings before custodial questioning |
Sources: National Archives (text and dates); Constitution Annotated (Congress.gov) (proposal and ratification history); U.S. Senate Historical Office and Library of Congress (sponsors).