Supreme Court upholds use of anticipatory warrants News
Supreme Court upholds use of anticipatory warrants

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Tuesday that anticipatory warrants [NYU Journal of Law & Liberty symposium] executed at some point in the future are allowed under the Fourth Amendment [text]. In US v. Grubbs [Duke Law backgrounder], 04-1414, the Court overruled a Ninth Circuit decision [PDF text] and held that the triggering condition, or the occurrence of a future event that permits the warrant to be executed, does not need to be set out in the warrant. The Court held that the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment only applies to the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized. Read the Court's opinion [PDF text], per Justice Scalia, and a four-person concurrence [PDF text] by Justice Souter.

Also Tuesday, the Court ruled in Merrill Lynch v. Davit [Duke Law backgrounder], 04-1371, that the federal Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (SLUSA) [PDF text] preempts state law claims based on misrepresentations in connection with holding stocks. The Supreme Court reversed a Second Circuit decision [PDF text] that held that SLUSA only preempted state law claims to the extent they were based on actual sales and purchases of stocks. The Court ruled that the language "in connection with the purchase or sale" of securities should be read broadly in line with its interpretation under Section 10(b) of the Securities Act of 1934 [PDF text]. Read the Court's unanimous opinion [PDF text], authored by Justice Stevens. AP has more.