§ 8.05 THE GATES "TOTALITY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES" TEST

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 8.05. The Gates "Totality of the Circumstances" Test⁶³

The Aguilar two-pronged standard, explained above, has been replaced by the totality-of-circumstances test discussed below.

[A] The Test Explained

In Illinois v. Gates,⁶⁴ Bloomingdale, Illinois, police officers received an anonymous letter that accused a married couple of selling drugs at a specified address. The letter described in detail the couple's alleged modus operandi, including the fact that they usually bought drugs in Florida and brought them to Illinois by car. The letter also stated that on a specified date the wife would drive to Florida, drop off the car and fly home, and the husband would fly down a few days later and drive back alone with a large quantity of drugs in the trunk.

The police and federal agents verified facts alleged in the letter, including the Florida trip. The letter was wrong, however, in predicting that the wife would fly home immediately after dropping off the car; instead, she remained and accompanied her husband on the trip north. As they began driving north "on an interstate frequently used by travelers to the Chicago area," the police sought and secured a warrant to search the suspects' automobile and home.

All of the justices in Gates were in agreement that the anonymous tip, standing alone, did not satisfy the two-pronged Aguilar v. Texas⁶⁵ standard,⁶⁶ although it is arguable that the police department's partial corroboration of the tip was sufficient to permit a finding of probable cause under Aguilar.⁶⁷ Nonetheless, the Court, per Justice Rehnquist, abandoned Aguilar and what it described as "the elaborate set of legal rules" that developed from it. In its place, the Court substituted "the totality-of-the-circumstances analysis that traditionally has informed probable cause determinations." On the basis of that standard, the Gates Court held that the warrant was supported by probable cause.⁶⁸

According to Gates, a magistrate must conduct a "balanced assessment of the relative weights of all the various indicia of reliability (and unreliability) attending an informant's tip." The factors enunciated in Aguilar—basis-of-knowledge and veracity—remain "highly relevant" in determining the value of an informant's tip. However, the prongs are no longer treated as separate, independent requirements. Now, the strength of one prong or some other indicia of reliability may compensate for weakness in the other prong.

The Court justified abandonment of Aguilar on the ground that "probable cause" is a "fluid," nontechnical, commonsense conception, based on "the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, act." According to Gates, "probable cause" is not "reduc[ible] to a neat set of legal rules" supposedly developed under Aguilar.⁶⁹

Justice Rehnquist also defended the change on the ground that the earlier test's alleged rigidity seriously impeded effective law enforcement. The Court further contended that this inflexibility tempted officers to avoid the warrant process entirely, thereby reducing the desired influence of magistrates in the search-and-seizure process.

[B] Criticism of Gates

Gate...