POLS 4720 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Motor Vehicle Exception, Curtilage, Fourth Amendment To The United States Constitution
5 May 2018
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The defendant was prosecuted and convicted of receipt of stolen property. At trial, the
defendant requested to suppress the evidence of the motorcycle on the grounds that uncovering
the tarp of the motorcycle parked in the driveway was an illegal warrantless search. However,
the trial court held the search, stating that it was based on probable cause and justified under the
exigent circumstances automobile exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant clause. The
Virginia Supreme Court affirmed to this holding and reasoned that the automobile exception
applies even when the vehicle is parked on private property and is not immediately mobile. The
significant legal question posed to the Supreme Court is whether the Fourth Amendment’s
automobile exception allows a police officer to enter private property warrantless in order to
search a vehicle parked in the driveway of a home. 1
Arguing on behalf of Collins, Matthew Fitzgerald stressed that the automobile exception
does not apply when the vehicle is parked in the area surrounding the home, known as curtilage.2
He argued that the officer violated the law by trespassing on private property with the purpose to
search and that there was no exigency. He stated that the expectation of privacy in the home
trumps any reduced expectation of privacy in automobiles and that the Supreme Court has
always acknowledged a significant constitutional difference between searching a car on the road
and going on to private property to search and seize. He insists that allowing the police to search
the curtilage of the private property violates the Fourth Amendment rights and eliminates an
important constitutional constraint on searches. Collins also heavily relies on a past case,
Coolidge v. Hampshire (1971), in which the Court held a search of a car parked in a private
driveway unreasonable. Fitzgerald also warned the Supreme Court that if they vote against
1 “Collins v. Virginia.” Oyez. Accessed April 5, 2018, www.oyez.org/cases/2017/16-1027.
2 “Oral Argument - Audio File.” Home - Supreme Court of the United States,
www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2017/16-1027.
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