In United States v. Ross, No. 18-11679 (June 24,
2020) (Newsom) (en banc), the Court
unanimously held that a suspect’s abandonment of a place or thing implicates
only the merits of his Fourth Amendment claim, not Article III standing, which
is jurisdictional in nature. As a
result, the government can waive an abandonment argument if it fails to
properly raise it. In so holding, the
Court overruled contrary circuit precedent.
Judge Rosenbaum concurred: “As the writer of the Sparks opinion
[the precedent being overruled], I regret my error and appreciate the Court’s
correction of our Circuit’s jurisprudence.”
