California v. Rooney

Background

The dispute arose after police, acting on a tip that a man was taking bets on professional football, searched a communal trash bin in a multi-unit building and found a bag with mail and papers addressed to the accused. Officers used those items and other corroboration to obtain a warrant for the man's apartment, where further incriminating evidence was seized. The man moved to quash the warrant; trial courts suppressed the evidence and the case was dismissed. The State appealed and the Court of Appeal upheld the warrant even while saying the trash evidence could not be used.

Reasoning

The Supreme Court stressed that it reviews final judgments, not comments in opinions. Because the Court of Appeal's judgment ultimately validated the warrant and favored the State, the trash-search question was not the subject of a final judgment properly before the Court. The majority concluded the issue was premature here, that California courts should have an opportunity to address the matter, and that the State retains procedural routes to seek review later. The Court therefore dismissed the petition as improvidently granted and declined to rule on the Fourth Amendment question.

Real world impact

The Court left unresolved whether people retain a reasonable privacy expectation in trash placed in communal apartment bins. California courts are invited to consider the question in a case that squarely presents it. The State still may seek review of any future suppression ruling after trial or by other interlocutory remedies.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice White (joined by two others) dissented, arguing the trash-search issue was properly before the Court and urging reversal because the trash was exposed to the public, undermining any reasonable privacy expectation.