Davis: United States Supreme Court Will Hear Case Arising Out of the Eleventh Circuit Regarding the Good Faith Exception to the Exclusionary Rule in Criminal Cases

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Davis v. United States. The Court will resolve a federal circuit court split: whether the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies to a search that is later ruled unconstitutional. This March, the Eleventh Circuit held in Davis that the exclusionary rule does not apply when the police conduct a search reasonably relying on well-settled precedent, even if that precedent is later overturned. We hope the Court reverses this decision.

In Davis, the defendant was a passenger in a routine traffic stop in Alabama. He gave the police officers a false name. When asked to exit the vehicle, Davis removed his jacket and left it in the car, then was taken toward a group of bystanders. The bystanders provided his real name, leading to Davis’s arrest for giving a false name. In the search incident to his arrest, the officers found a gun in the jacket, which was still in the car. Davis was convicted of possession of a firearm and sentenced to more than 18 years.

As we explained in this post, the Supreme Court decided Arizona v. Gant in April 2009. The Court held that police are authorized “to search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only when the arrestee is unsecured and within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search,” unless some evidence related to the crime of arrest may be in the vehicle. This decision rendered the search in Davis unconstitutional.

In applying Gant to searches predating the decision, the Ninth and Tenth Circuits disagreed on whether the exclusionary rule must be applied to searches now rendered unconstitutional. The Eleventh Circuit joined the Tenth in holding that the good faith exception prevented exclusion of evidence from such searches. The Fifth Circuit has held similarly prior to Gant, but the Seventh Circuit was skeptical.

We hope the Supreme Court protects defendants’ constitutional rights and reverses the Eleventh Circuit’s decision.

The Eleventh Circuit’s opinion in Davis is available here.
The petition for certiorari is available here.
The brief in opposition is available here.