context: I am further troubled by my colleagues' willingness to decide this thorny Fourth Amendment question despite the availability of a much more straightforward (and less controversial) means to the same end.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.identifier: 405 U.S. 625, 633
citation_a.parenthetical: describing the Court's "usual custom of avoiding decision of constitutional issues *unnecessary to the decision of the case before us"
citation_a.sentence: See Alexander v. Louisiana, 405 U.S. 625, 633, 92 S.Ct. 1221, 31 L.Ed.2d 536 (1972) (describing the Court’s “usual custom of avoiding decision of constitutional issues •unnecessary to the decision of the case before us”); Ashwander v. TVA 297 U.S. 288, 347, 56 S.Ct. 466, 80 L.Ed. 688 (1936) (Brandéis, J., concurring) (“The court will not pass upon a constitutional question although properly presented by the record, if there is also present some other ground upon which the case may be disposed of.”); see also Dep’t of Commerce v. U.S. House of Representatives, 525 U.S. 316, 343-44, 119 S.Ct. 765, 142 L.Ed.2d 797 (1999) (same); United States v. Ajlouny, 629 F.2d 830, 840 (2d Cir.1980) (declining to “adjudicate the [constitutional question of the] lawfulness of the surveillance” at issue in the case because the court did “not believe it would be appropriate to apply the exclusionary rule in this case, even if the surveillance were unlawful and did lead to any trial evidence”), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1111, 101 S.Ct. 920, 66 L.Ed.2d 840 (1981).
citation_b.signal: see also
citation_b.identifier: 629 F.2d 830, 840
citation_b.parenthetical: declining to "adjudicate the [constitutional question of the] lawfulness of the surveillance" at issue in the case because the court did "not believe it would be appropriate to apply the exclusionary rule in this case, even if the surveillance were unlawful and did lead to any trial evidence"
citation_b.sentence: See Alexander v. Louisiana, 405 U.S. 625, 633, 92 S.Ct. 1221, 31 L.Ed.2d 536 (1972) (describing the Court’s “usual custom of avoiding decision of constitutional issues •unnecessary to the decision of the case before us”); Ashwander v. TVA 297 U.S. 288, 347, 56 S.Ct. 466, 80 L.Ed. 688 (1936) (Brandéis, J., concurring) (“The court will not pass upon a constitutional question although properly presented by the record, if there is also present some other ground upon which the case may be disposed of.”); see also Dep’t of Commerce v. U.S. House of Representatives, 525 U.S. 316, 343-44, 119 S.Ct. 765, 142 L.Ed.2d 797 (1999) (same); United States v. Ajlouny, 629 F.2d 830, 840 (2d Cir.1980) (declining to “adjudicate the [constitutional question of the] lawfulness of the surveillance” at issue in the case because the court did “not believe it would be appropriate to apply the exclusionary rule in this case, even if the surveillance were unlawful and did lead to any trial evidence”), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1111, 101 S.Ct. 920, 66 L.Ed.2d 840 (1981).