Illinois v. Gates
- Decided
- June 8, 1983
- Docket
- 81-430
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 16,716 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- holding that a tip from an anonymous informant can be a basis for a finding of probable cause — United States v. Gerard Wagner, Michael Canale Tammie Canale Thomas Brewer Donald Howard Shawna O'Leary Leo Talback Arthur Villa and David Keays (1993)
- holding that probable cause means “a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found.” — Commonwealth v. Freeman (2015)
- holding that probable cause means "a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found.” — Commonwealth v. Jones (2015)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
[*216] Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
Respondents Lance and Susan Gates were indicted for violation of state drug laws after police officers, executing a search warrant, discovered marihuana and other contraband in their automobile and home. Prior to trial the Gateses moved to suppress evidence seized during this search. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the decisions of lower state courts granting the motion. 85 Ill. 2d 376, 423 N. E. 2d 887 (1981). ■ It held that the affidavit submitted in support of the State’s application for a warrant to search the Gateses’ prop [*217] erty was inadequate under this Court’s decisions in Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U. S. 108 (1964), and Spinelli v. United States, 393 U. S. 410 (1969).
We granted certiorari to consider the application of the Fourth Amendment to a magistrate’s issuance of a search warrant on the basis of a partially corroborated anonymous informant’s tip. 454 U. S. 1140 (1982). After receiving briefs and hearing oral argument on this question, however, we requested the parties to address an additional question:
Statutes cited
Cite this
Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (1983)Read the full opinion
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