Political Quotes

“I am very happy that the gentlewoman has again put her finger on precisely what is in difference over this H.R. 666. Because we have now, and I think the other side will agree, we have all kinds of exceptions written into the exclusionary rule already. This includes destruction of evidence, imminent danger to law enforcement officers, stop and frisk laws in automobiles, including trunks, which the police can stop. We have the fleeing felons exception. We have the plain view exception, where if we see illegal evidence or a stash of drugs and they are in plain view, or guns, the police officer is perfectly permitted to act. However, what we do not have is an officer using his own objective, reasonable good faith to determine whether he should do something over and above these exceptions. Therefore, the gentlewoman is absolutely correct. In Leon there was a writ given by the magistrate that turned out to be subsequently invalid. In that case, we said that the police officer operated in good faith, and therefore the evidence could be excluded. However, what they are saying is, let us get rid of any warrants at all by the magistrate, and let us let the police officers' own reasonable good faith be the test. In other words, each law officer would become the judge under this exception, which is nowhere to be found in Leon.”