Rakas v. Illinois
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| Argued October 3, 1978 Decided December 5, 1978 | |||||||
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| Full case name | Rakas et. al v. Illinois | ||||||
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| Expectation of privacy in area subject to search or seizure required to challenge legality of the 4th amendment invasion. | |||||||
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| Majority | Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Stewart, Powell, Blackmun | ||||||
| Concurrence | Powell, joined by Burger | ||||||
| Dissent | White, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Stevens | ||||||
Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128 (1978), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, in which the Court held that the "legitimately on the property" requirement of Jones v. United States, for challenging the legality of a police search, was too broad. The majority opinion by then-Associate Justice Rehnquist held that a defendant need show a "legitimate" expectation of privacy in the place searched in order to be eligible to challenge the search. For example, an overnight guest in a friend's apartment has such "standing".
In the case at issue, the Court ruled that vehicular passengers in a car they did not own had no such legitimate expectation.
Subsequent History
In Rawlings v. Kentucky (1980), the Court ruled that the test enunciated in Rakas—whether the petitioner had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the area searched—is the exclusive test for determining whether a defendant may challenge a search.