Does the exclusionary rule apply to search warrants?

Moreover, we are unpersuaded by the arguments of policy underlying the government's position. Given the fragmentary empirical evidence regarding the actual effectiveness of the exclusionary rule in deterring unconstitutional searches, ⁷ any discussion of its deterrent effects must be undertaken with considerable humility. However, there is no reason to assume that the rule does not help to deter unconstitutional searches even when applied in cases such as the present one, where the evidence was seized pursuant to a warrant issued without probable cause. While we do not assume that United States magistrates or state officials authorized to issue search warrants are necessarily prone to act as the 'rubber stamp(s) for the police' condemned in Aguilar v. Texas, supra, 378 U.S. at 111, 84 S.Ct. 1509, the exclusionary rule's effect of making them aware that their decision to issue a search warrant is a matter of importance not only in regard to the constitutional rights of the person to be searched, but also in regard to the success of any subsequent criminal prosecution, may well induce them to give search warrant applications the scrutiny which a proper regard for the Fourth Amendment requires, see id.

The suggested modification of the exclusionary rule might also have a significant, albeit indirect, effect on the behavior of

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