The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the FBI violated the Fourth Amendment when agents searched the contents of over 700 safe-deposit boxes without proper protocol and beyond the scope of their warrant. The court highlighted the existence of “supplemental instructions” that instructed agents to look for cash and items that suggested criminal activity, despite the warrant expressly forbidding a criminal search or seizure. The court expressed concern about the lack of a limiting principle and the potential for customized inventory searches to resemble criminal investigations. The FBI’s use of information from the raid to obtain additional warrants further confirmed their violation of the Fourth Amendment. The ruling brings attention to the need for federal forfeiture reform and highlights the importance of the Fourth Amendment. The FBI declined to comment on the ruling. This case echoes abuses of power that led to the adoption of the Fourth Amendment.
https://reason.com/2024/01/23/appeals-court-fbis-safe-deposit-box-seizures-violated-fourth-amendment/