Washington v. Chrisman

In the 1970s and 1980s public concern over the use of, and traffic in, illegal drugs rose to new levels. With drug use among youth at all time highs during the late 1970s, popular opinion demanded that some action be taken by authorities to curb the illegal drug trade. The Supreme Court was not immune to such public pressure, embarking on a consistent trend toward interpreting Fourth Amendment prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure in such a way as to allow maximum freedom of action among law enforcement officers investigating drug cases.