Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, and Liability
This domain tests the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rules you apply on the street and the civil exposure that follows when they are applied badly.
Search and seizure
- A traffic stop is a seizure requiring reasonable suspicion of a violation; a Terry stop requires specific and articulable facts, not a hunch.
- Exceptions to the warrant requirement: consent, search incident to arrest limited to the person and grabbing area (Chimel), vehicle searches under the automobile exception and Gant for incident-to-arrest, exigency, inventory, plain view, and a protective sweep under Buie.
- Riley v. California: cell phone contents require a warrant; Rodriguez v. United States: a stop may not be extended beyond its mission without reasonable suspicion.
- New York has no good-faith exception to its exclusionary rule under Article I, Section 12 of the State Constitution.
Interrogation and counsel
- Miranda attaches to custody plus interrogation. Invocation must be unambiguous, but once counsel is requested or retained, New York's right to counsel is indelible on that matter.
Civil exposure
- Section 1983 requires a state actor, action under color of law, and a constitutional violation. Monell liability requires a municipal policy or custom, not a single bad act.
- Qualified immunity turns on clearly established law at the time of the conduct; it is never a defense to a criminal charge.
- Common claims: false arrest (defeated by probable cause), malicious prosecution, excessive force, assault and battery. General Municipal Law § 50-e requires a notice of claim within ninety days.
- Civil Rights Law § 79-p protects the right to record police activity.
Worked example
You arrest a man for a loud argument that does not rise to disorderly conduct. The charge is dismissed and he sues. The false arrest claim turns on whether probable cause existed at the moment of arrest, not on the outcome; if your complaint overstated what you saw, that is a separate integrity problem and discoverable impeachment material.
Traps
Treating probable cause as a more-likely-than-not test; invoking qualified immunity in a criminal case; assuming one rogue officer creates municipal liability; forgetting the ninety-day notice of claim.