Lo-Ji Sales, Inc. v. New York
United States Supreme Court
442 U.S. 319 (1979)
After an investigator concluded two adult films violated state obscenity law, a town justice issued a warrant to search Lo-Ji Sales' (defendant) store and seize copies of those two specific films, based partly on the investigator's claim that the store held other 'similar' obscene items. The justice personally accompanied the investigator to the store, and the warrant contained a blank section for seizing 'the following items' with no items actually listed; during the search, whenever the justice himself concluded something was obscene, he ordered it and all 'similar' items seized, ultimately resulting in hundreds of films, books, and magazines being confiscated, after which the warrant was amended after the fact to list everything actually taken.
Whether a warrant issued by a judge who personally participates in the search, lacks probable cause for the items seized, and is later amended to include everything actually confiscated, violates the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement.