Last updated/reviewed July 2, 2012

Arizona v. United States

This decision on the Arizona immigration law also gives some guidelines for law enforcement officers who may encounter persons not legally in the United States.  This memo focuses on those aspects and includes an edited version of the case.

McDonald v. City of Chicago

On June 28, 2010 the Supreme Court ruled  the protections of the Second Amendment apply to the States, through the Fourteenth Amendment.  Chicago, as a political subdivision of the State of Illinois, cannot have an ordinance that infringes on the rights set out in the Second Amendment.

State ex rel. Oklahoma Dept. of Public Safety v. Gurich

On July 15, 2010, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled a law enforcement agency may be liable in negligence for injuries suffered by a bystander if a jury determines that the pursuing Officer acted in reckless disregard of the safety of the public and a jury determines that the actions of the Officer were a “proximate cause” of the bystander’s injuries.

Legal Update 2012
 

Legal Update 2011

Legal Update 2010

Legal Update 2009

Arizona v. Gant

Arizona v. Gant applies only to this fact situation: 

• The person arrested is in custody and unable to access the passenger compartment of the automobile.
• There is no reason to think there is evidence of the crime (the crime for which the person is arrested) is in the car.

Gant does NOT apply to inventories or to probable cause searches of an automobile.

Click here to see the full text of CLEET's interpretation of Arizona v. Gant.