The Supreme Court decided three cases concerning the Fourth Amendment during the October 2020 term. They shared several characteristics.
First, the police lost all of them, which is unusual for a court that generally has sided with law enforcement in search and seizure cases. Second, none brought about a significant change in the law of the Fourth Amendment, though each provided a clarification that is sure to be important in some cases. And third, the court repeatedly engaged in lengthy examination of the common law as of 1791 in deciding the meaning of the Fourth Amendment today.
