Arrest Warrant

Example 1 (valid arrest warrant)

Agents from the Internal Revenue Service discover authentic documents showing that a prominent banker has not paid federal taxes in fifteen years. They present these documents to the judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Because the documents establish probable cause, the judge issues a valid arrest warrant for the banker.

Example 2 (arrest warrant is invalid)

A police officer spots a familiar man late at night, walking to different cars and looking inside them suspiciously. While it’s possible that the man is up to no good, the officer has only reasonable suspicion that crime is afoot, not probable cause. No break-in has begun, and there is no reasonable probability that the man is engaged in criminal activity. Nevertheless, the officer is desperate for a promotion, and he hopes that carrying out an arrest will advance his career. He goes to a judge and exaggerates the facts and circumstances to suggest that there was probable cause, rather than reasonable suspicion. Unaware of the officer’s deception, the judge grants the arrest warrant. However, the man can have the case dismissed by showing that the officer acted on reasonable suspicion rather than probable cause, making the arrest warrant invalid.

Example 3 (valid arrest warrant)

The FBI suspects that a local business is a front for organized crime. Multiple witnesses come forward telling the FBI that the business is the epicenter of organized crime in the area. They implore the FBI to act, saying their lives and families have been threatened by the crime syndicate that runs the business. Based on these witness statements, the FBI asks a judge for permission to wiretap the business. The witness statements establish probable cause, so the judge grants permission. The FBI wiretaps the business and overhears the business owners implicating themselves in multiple crimes, including racketeering and money laundering. The FBI returns to the judge and, based on the wiretap evidence, asks for arrest warrants for the business owners. The judge grants the request. These arrest warrants are valid because the wiretap evidence, which was obtained through legal means, establishes probable cause.

Example 4 (request for arrest warrant denied)

One day, a police detective hears that the convict who killed his partner on the force has been released from jail. Suspecting that the convict is likely to kill again, the detective asks his chief’s permission to arrest him. The chief sympathizes with the detective’s loss, but he says there’s no evidence to establish probable cause that the convict has committed a crime since his release. Determined to not let what happened to his partner happen to anyone else, the detective sneaks into the convict`s apartment to find evidence that may put him back in jail. Once inside the apartment, the detective discovers diary entries where the convict says he wants to assassinate the district attorney, who prosecuted the case against him ten years prior. The detective takes the diary entries to a local judge, asking her to issue an arrest warrant for the convict based on them. But the judge denies the request, saying that the detective violated the convict`s Fourth Amendment rights by entering his apartment without a search warrant.

Case Examples

• Elements of a valid warrant: What constitutes a valid warrant arises out of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unlawful search and seizure. The elements of a valid warrant are “(1) it must be based on probable cause; (2) supported by oath or affirmation; (2) decided by a neutral and detached magistrate; (3) and that it describes with particularity the person to be arrested.” United States v. Waller, No. 2:24-CR-90, 2025 WL 3165662, n.2 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 13, 2025) (internal citations omitted). In Waller, the defendant did not challenge the constitutionality of the arrest warrant but argued that the police department failed to follow its own procedures in issuing it, thus making it invalid. Id. The court disagreed, finding that “[a] technical violation of a state procedural rule does not automatically rise to the level of a Fourth Amendment violation requiring suppression of the evidence seized. Rather, [the movant] must demonstrate that the technical violations amounted to a constitutional deprivation; mere conclusory allegations are insufficient.” Id. (internal citations omitted).
• Qualified Immunity of police officers when the warrant is invalid: Even though an invalid arrest warrant means that the defendant must be released, courts have found that “[a] police officer may be entitled to qualified immunity even for a search and arrest based on invalid warrants if he has a reasonable belief that the warrant was supported by probable cause.” Armstrong v. Asselin, 734 F.3d 984, 991 (9th Cir. 2013). In Armstrong, the plaintiff, Armstrong, sued several police officers and their department for unlawful arrest regarding the dissemination of indecent material. Id. The Court found that although the arrest warrant was deemed invalid for lack of probable cause, the police officers could not be held liable, as they had a reasonable belief that the arrest warrant was valid. Id.

Key facts:

According to the Data Collaborative for Justice, in 2016, there were over 7.8 million arrest warrants open in the United States. (An open arrest warrant is a warrant that has been issued, but hasn’t yet led to an arrest.) New Research Shows Broad Enforcement of Warrants for Minor Offenses, DATA COLLABORATIVE FOR JUSTICE, Dec. 15, 2020, https://datacollaborativeforjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020_12_15_Warrant-Reports-Press-Release.pdf.

More than one million of these warrants were for felonies, and about 100,000 of them were for serious violent crime. See Arrest Warrants and Justice Intelligence: Best Practices for Enforcement and Safety, TOTALVERIFY, Aug. 20, 2021, https://totalverify.equifax.com/blog/all-blogs/-/post/arrest-warrants-and-justice-intelligence-best-practices-for-enforcement-and-safety.