Question

Since the 1980s, the Supreme Court has addressed the exclusionary rule by

A. expanding its application to virtually all criminal cases both at the state and federal levels.
B. determining that the rule was unconstitutional, in that it weakened the effectiveness of the police in maintaining an orderly society.
C. expanding its application to federal cases only.
D. expanding its application to state cases only.
E. None of these answers is correct.

Answer 1

The correct answer regarding the exclusionary rule's evolution since the 1980s is that none of the provided options are correct; the Supreme Court has refined and occasionally limited the rule's application, not expanded it universally.

Step-by-step explanation:

Evolution of the Exclusionary Rule

The exclusionary rule is a legal principle established to ensure evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment's protections against unlawful searches and seizures is not admissible in court. The rule was nationally recognized in the 1914 Supreme Court case Weeks v. United States and was later applied to the states in the 1961 case Mapp v. Ohio.

Over time, the Supreme Court has addressed the exclusionary rule by refining its application rather than expanding it across the board. Key cases such as United States v. Leon and Massachusetts v. Sheppard have created exceptions to the rule, including the "good faith" exception and the "inevitable discovery" rule, indicating a narrowing of its application rather than an expansion.

Thus, the answer to the question is E. None of these answers is correct, as the Supreme Court has neither expanded the application to all criminal cases nor deemed the rule unconstitutional; instead, it has clarified and occasionally limited the scope of the rule through various decisions.