Chatrie v. United States · ¶67
When officers have obtained a warrant, as they did here, a search’s legality will thus depend on whether a magistrate has properly found probable cause to support a particularly described search. “[P]robable cause is a fluid concept—turning on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual contexts—not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules.” Illinois v. Gates, 462 U. S. 213, 232 (1983). But a magistrate must always determine that there is a “fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found” in the place searched. Id., at 238. That means determining, to the requisite “fair probability,” both that the place searched will have the materials sought and that those materials will contain evidence “aid[ing]” in a criminal’s “apprehension or conviction.” Mes serschmidt v. Millender, 565 U. S. 535, 551, 552, n. 7 (2012); see Zurcher v.…Read in context ›
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