Lo-Ji Sales, Inc. v. New York

In Lo-Ji Sales, Inc. v. New York (1979) 442 U.S. 319, the United States Supreme Court held that a judicial officer was not neutral and detached when he issued an open-ended warrant to search for obscene materials in an "adult" bookstore and then proceeded to accompany officers to the bookstore in order independently to determine and direct what additional items were obscene and should be seized. In other words, the judicial officer ". . . allowed himself to become a member, if not the leader, of the search party which was essentially a police operation. Once in the store, he conducted a generalized search under authority of an invalid warrant; he was not acting as a judicial officer but as an adjunct law enforcement officer." ( Lo-Ji, supra, 442 U.S. at p. 327 60 L.Ed.2d at p. 929.)