Police actions and procedures must comply with which amendment or the evidence obtained will be suppressed?

• A. First Amendment
• B. Fourth Amendment
• C. Fifth Amendment
• D. Sixth Amendment

Answer: (B)

The important idea here is protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment requires that police searches and seizures be reasonable and typically supported by a warrant based on probable cause. When officers conduct a search or seize evidence in a way that violates this rule, the evidence is excluded from court under the exclusionary rule. That’s why compliance with the Fourth Amendment is what determines whether evidence can be used at trial.

Other amendments protect different rights—speech and assembly (First), against self-incrimination and due process (Fifth), and the right to counsel and a speedy trial (Sixth)—but they do not centrally govern the suppression of evidence obtained through improper searches.