stanford texas argued november decided january pursuant texas statute district judge issued warrant describing petitioner home authorizing search seizure books records pamphlets cards receipts lists memoranda pictures recordings written instruments concerning communist party texas officers conducted search four hours seizing items including stock trade petitioner business personal books papers documents records communist party party lists dues payments petitioner filed motion magistrate issued warrant annulled property returned motion denied held protections fourth amendment fourteenth amendment guaranteed invasion may constitutionally issue general warrants describe particularity things seized requirement scrupulous exactitude seizure also impinges upon first amendment freedoms pp order vacated cause remanded maury maverick john mcavoy argued cause petitioner briefs melvin wulf james barlow hawthorne phillips argued cause respondent brief waggoner carr attorney general texas howard fender lonny zwiener assistant attorneys general justice stewart delivered opinion december several texas officers presented petitioner san antonio home purpose searching authority warrant issued local magistrate time finished five hours later seized petitioner books pamphlets papers question presented case whether search seizure constitutionally valid warrant issued art revised civil statutes texas article enacted known suppression act sweeping law among things outlaws communist party creates various individual criminal offenses punishable imprisonment years section authorizes issuance warrant purpose searching seizing books records pamphlets cards receipts lists memoranda pictures recordings written instruments showing person organization violating violated provision act section sets forth various procedural requirements among premises searched constitute private residence application search warrant shall accompanied affidavits two credible citizens application warrant filed bexar county criminal district attorney county recited applicant good reason believe believe certain place premises bexar county texas described two white frame houses one garage located address west rosewood city san antonio bexar county texas premises control charge john william stanford place books records pamphlets cards receipts lists memoranda pictures recordings written instruments concerning communist party texas operations communist party texas unlawfully possessed used violation articles revised civil statutes state texas belief officer founded upon following information officer received information two credible persons party named books records possession books records communist party including party lists dues payments addition items listed information recent origin confirmed recent mailings stanford december material recent mailings stanford december material home address material identified material information received course investigation stanford possession books records texas communist party warrant executed two assistant attorneys general signed affidavit accompanied number county officers went place described warrant petitioner resided carried mail order book business trade name points view petitioner home officers arrived wife let officers one read warrant delay occasioned unsuccessful effort locate petitioner another part town search began general supervision one assistant attorneys general officers spent four hours gathering half books found house material took came stock trade petitioner business took number books personal library well books pamphlets taken comprised approximately separate titles addition numerous issues several different periodicals among books taken works diverse writers karl marx jean paul sartre theodore draper fidel castro earl browder pope john xxiii justice hugo black officers also took possession many petitioner private documents papers including marriage certificate insurance policies household bills receipts files personal correspondence material packed cartons hauled investigator office county courthouse officers find records communist party party lists dues payments petitioner filed motion magistrate issued warrant asking annul warrant order return property seized motion asserted several federal constitutional claims hearing motion denied without opinion order denial parties agree final appealable otherwise reviewable texas law see ex parte wolfson tex cr accordingly granted certiorari see thompson city louisville petitioner attacked constitutional validity search seizure upon several grounds rest decision upon one without pausing assess substantiality others think clear warrant kind purpose fourth amendment forbid general warrant therefore even accepting premise even substantive provisions articles revised civil statutes texas constitutional federal law even accepting premise warrant sufficiently specified offense believed committed issued upon probable cause magistrate order denying motion annul warrant return property must nonetheless set aside settled fundamental protections fourth amendment guaranteed fourteenth amendment invasion wolf colorado mapp ohio ker california fourth amendment provides warrants shall issue upon probable cause supported oath affirmation particularly describing place searched persons things seized emphasis supplied words precise clear reflect determination wrote bill rights people new nation forever secure persons houses papers effects intrusion seizure officers acting unbridled authority general warrant vivid memory newly independent americans general warrants known writs assistance officers crown bedeviled colonists hated writs assistance given customs officials blanket authority search pleased goods imported violation british tax laws denounced james otis worst instrument arbitrary power destructive english liberty fundamental principles law ever found english law book placed liberty every man hands every petty officer historic occasion denunciation boston characterized perhaps prominent event inaugurated resistance colonies oppressions mother country said john adams first scene first act opposition arbitrary claims great britain child independence born boyd fourth amendment immediately product contemporary revulsion regime writs assistance roots go far deeper adoption constitution new nation reflected culmination england years earlier struggle oppression endured centuries story struggle fully chronicled pages reports needless exercise pedantry review detailed history use general warrants instruments oppression time tudors star chamber long parliament restoration beyond significant note history largely history conflict crown press enforcing laws licensing publication literature later prosecutions seditious libel general warrants systematically used sixteenth seventeenth eighteenth centuries tudor england officers crown given roving commissions search pleased order suppress destroy literature dissent catholic puritan later years warrants sometimes specific content typically authorized arrest search premises persons connected publication particular libel arrest seizure papers named person thought connected libel context latter kinds general warrants battle individual liberty privacy finally landmark cases wilkes wood entick carrington wilkes case arose crown attempt stifle publication called north briton anonymously published john wilkes member parliament particularly issue journal lord halifax secretary state issued warrant ordering four king messengers make strict diligent search authors printers publishers seditious treasonable paper entitled north briton found apprehend seize together papers armed roving commission set forth quest unknown offenders unable take evidence listened rumors idle tales curious guesses held hands liberty every man pleased suspect holding ridiculous warrant whole english nation common pleas awarded wilkes damages secretary state john entick author publication called monitor british freeholder warrant issued specifically naming publication authorizing arrest seditious libel seizure books papers king messengers executing warrant ransacked entick home four hours carted away quantities books papers opinion characterized wellspring rights protected fourth amendment lord camden declared warrant unlawful power said assumed secretary state execution upon party papers first instance house rifled valuable secrets taken possession paper charged found criminal competent jurisdiction convicted either writing publishing concerned paper entick carrington thereafter house commons passed two resolutions condemning general warrants first limiting condemnation use cases libel second condemning use generally history prompted less four years ago remark use government power search seizure adjunct system suppression objectionable publications new marcus search warrant history course part intellectual matrix within constitutional fabric shaped bill rights fashioned background knowledge unrestricted power search seizure also instrument stifling liberty expression justice douglas put commands first amendment well prohibitions fourth fifth reflect teachings entick carrington supra three amendments indeed closely related safeguarding privacy protection conscience human dignity freedom expression well frank maryland dissenting opinion short history indispensably teaches constitutional requirement warrants must particularly describe things seized accorded scrupulous exactitude things books basis seizure ideas contain see marcus search warrant quantity books kansas less standard faithful first amendment freedoms constitutional impossibility leaving protection freedoms whim officers charged executing warrant dramatically underscored officers saw fit seize warrant case requirement warrants shall particularly describe things seized makes general searches impossible prevents seizure one thing warrant describing another taken nothing left discretion officer executing warrant marron need decide present case whether description things seized generalized pass constitutional muster things weapons narcotics cases whiskey see steele point contraband kind ordered seized literary material books records pamphlets cards receipts lists memoranda pictures recordings written instruments concerning communist party texas operations communist party texas indiscriminate sweep language constitutionally intolerable hold otherwise false terms fourth amendment false meaning false history order vacated cause remanded proceedings inconsistent opinion ordered footnotes petitioner obtained certificate transact business trade name accordance texas assumed name law see pennsylvania nelson see aguilar texas see marcus search warrant frank maryland dissenting opinion see also boyd see siebert freedom press england pp see siebert supra pp tr tr see lasson development fourth amendment ii may constitutional history england ed every american statesman revolutionary formative period nation undoubtedly familiar monument english freedom considered true ultimate expression constitutional law may confidently asserted propositions minds framed fourth amendment constitution boyd st see xvi hansard parliamentary history england et seq word books context phrase like books records course quite different meaning book ledger unlawful enterprise thus might stand quite different constitutional footing books involved present case see marron situations books even kind seized might purposes fourth amendment constitutionally indistinguishable goods books stolen property see pp supra authority police officers warrants issued case poses problems raised warrants seize gambling implements intoxicating liquors use warrants implicates questions whether procedures leading issuance surrounding execution adequate avoid suppression constitutionally protected publications marcus search warrant