Political Quotes

“I just want to disagree with my good friend, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Conyers]. The exclusionary rule is not wiped out. It is changed from the way it is presently administered. But if the evidence is offered and an unreasonable search and seizure has been made that was not in good faith, I am sure the exclusionary rule in all its glory will be enforced. This does no violence to the fourth amendment. The exclusionary rule is judge-made. It was not made by this Congress. It is a rule the judges thought up to deter the policeman from making unreasonable searches and seizures. And their idea of deterring that was just not to admit the evidence. What happens is, the policeman is not punished. He walks out of the courtroom and the accused walks out of the courtroom. And the evidence of his or her guilt is suppressed. The people who lose on that one, the victims, still end up with the dirty end of the stick. So this does not codify Leon. I agree with the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Conyers]. It codifies the principle of Leon, which applies to warrants and may well apply to warrantless searches. If the search was done in good faith, as determined by the court, not by the policeman, by an objectively reasonable standard, then the evidence, the heroin that they got in the trunk of the car, gets admitted, not suppressed. And the judge makes that judgment. Yes, this is a change in emphasis.”