exclusionary rule

noun

: a legal rule that bars unlawfully obtained evidence from being used in court proceedings

Examples of exclusionary rule in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Because the decision to expel someone from the United States is formally civil, not criminal, the Supreme Court did not apply the exclusionary rule. —Stephan Pechdimaldji, Newsweek, 13 Dec. 2024

An earlier case had ruled that the exclusionary rule does not apply to mistakes made by the judicial officers who maintain the warrant databases regularly used by police officers making stops. —WIRED, 14 Sep. 2023

For example, the American Civil Liberties Union was successful convincing the court to apply the exclusionary rule to the states in Mapp v. Ohio in 1961. —Paul M. Collins, The Conversation, 19 Oct. 2020

Subsequently, conservative Supreme Court justices have followed conservative groups’ arguments by carving out numerous exceptions to the exclusionary rule. —Paul M. Collins, The Conversation, 19 Oct. 2020

Under a principle known as the exclusionary rule, evidence uncovered using an invalid search warrant is excluded from trial. —Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, 24 Feb. 2020

The law allows a good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule in some cases where police rely on a warrant that later proves defective. —Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, 24 Feb. 2020

In 2009, four years after Rehnquist died, the court did not overturn the exclusionary rule but came close. —David G. Savage, latimes.com, 11 July 2018

Unless, of course, the left can nullify the exclusionary rule. —WSJ, 17 Apr. 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

exclusionary rule

noun

: any of various rules that exclude or suppress evidence

specifically : a rule of evidence that excludes or suppresses evidence obtained in violation of a defendant's constitutional rights see also fruit of the poisonous tree, good faith exception, Mapp v. Ohio and Wong Sun v. United States

Note: The U.S. Supreme Court established the rule that evidence gathered by a governmental agent in violation of especially the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution cannot be admitted against a defendant. The rule is available primarily in criminal trials or quasi-criminal proceedings (as punitive administrative hearings) and must also be observed by state courts. There are various statutory exclusionary rules in addition to the rule established by the Supreme Court.