California+v.+Greenwood

CALIFORNIA V GREENWOOD (1988)

Background- The policemen learned of a man in Laguna beach California whom was selling drugs, due to lack of evidence they searched his trash for evidence. After searching his trash the police found evidence of drug use, allowing the police to obtain a warrant to search the house. With the search warrant the police found drugs and arrested the man.

Majority opinion- The majority found that trash placed on the curb is unprotected by the 4th amendment because "there was no reasonable expectation of privacy for trash on public streets "readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public."".

Dissenting opinion- Court Justice Brennan, who wrote the dissent, thought that had the trash been strewn across the curb for all to see it would have been legal to use the trash as evidence with out a warrant. He has said that the trash bags had hid the mans trash as well as a footlocker or green plastic wrapping, thus the trash was still protected by the 4th amendment.