Annual Survey of Virginia Law: Criminal Procedure

In the landmark case of New Jersey v. T.L.O., the United States Supreme Court applied the fourth amendment to searches conducted by public school officials. This past term, in O\u27Conner v. Ortega, the Court held that the fourth amendment is also applicable to work-related searches conducted by public employers. As in New Jersey v. T.L.O., the Court rejected the probable cause standard in favor of a reasonableness under all the circumstances test to determine the constitutionality of such searches. This general reasonableness approach was also approved in Maryland v. Garrison, where the Court held that an objectively understandable and reasonable mistake as to the sub-unit (apartment) described in the warrant does not render the search illegal