Raymond N. Bailey, Jr. v. Arkansas

More than 3.5 million people in the United States are subject to warrantless, suspicionless searches of their residences as a result of their probation or parole. Circuits and state supreme courts are split over the level of certainty government officials must have that a place is, in fact, the residence of a person subject to warrantless searches before officials may search it without a warrant. The Eighth Circuit, like several others, has held that the Fourth Amendment requires that government officials have probable cause to believe a place to be searched is, in fact, the residence of the person subject to a warrantless search before it may be searched without a warrant. In the decision below, the Supreme Court of Arkansas, which is a state in the Eighth Circuit, held that the Fourth Amendment does not require probable cause, but rather requires only reasonable suspicion. The question presented is: Whether a warrantless search violates the Fourth Amendment where, although a person’s residence is subject to warrantless search, the government lacks probable cause to believe that the place to be searched is, in fact, that person’s residence. (i)