United States v. Salvucci (1980)

United States v. Salvucci 448 U.S. 83 (1980) was a Supreme Court case ruling that "automatic standing" to file a Fourth Amendment claim based on mere possession of a seized item lacks constitutional merit.

Background
In 1978, John Salvucci and Joseph Zackular were federally indicted on 12 counts of stolen mail possession. They filed a motion to suppress the checks during trial, arguing the affidavit supporting the search warrant lacked probable cause. The District Court agreed; the Court of Appeals upheld the suppression order based on the defendants' standing.

Decision
In a 7-2 majority opinion delivered by Justice William Rehnquist, the Court ruled that simple possession of a seized item does not justify standing by itself. Instead, those who have "a legitimate expectation of privacy in the invaded place" possess merit to file a Fourth Amendment claim.

Marshall's Dissent
Justice Thurgood Marshall, joined by Justice Brennan, posits that the automatic standing rule eliminates the "wasteful" requirement of pretrial preliminary standing hearings in possession cases.