State v. Amble

Docket number
23-2114
Date

Iowa Supreme Court revisited its 2021 decision in State v. Wright that the state’s search and seizure clause requires police to obtain a warrant before searching garbage placed curbside for collection, finding that subsequent enactment of a state statute providing such garbage “shall be deemed abandoned property” means a warrant is no longer constitutionally required.  The majority reasoned that Wright relied on “positive law”—a local anti-scavening ordinance prohibiting anyone but licensed trash collectors from picking up trash—to define private property rights, and the state statute changed that positive law by preempting the local ordinance. A dissent opined that the majority’s position allows legislative “end-runs” of constitutional rights and disregards an overarching reasonable-expectation-of-privacy analysis.

Opinions, Briefs and other Documents

  • Opinion

Supreme Court of Iowa - Opinion

  • Party Brief

State of Iowa - Reply Brief

  • Party Brief

Mandracchia - Brief

  • Party Brief

State of Iowa - Brief (Amended)

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