Administrative Searches and Seizures: What Happened to Camara and See?

In recent years the Government's efforts in promoting health, safety and welfare have necessitated an increased number of administrative inspections of commercial and noncommercial premises. Although such inspections were previously held to be excluded from the fourth amendment's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures, the Supreme Court held in Camara v. Municipal Court and See v. Seattle that administrative inspections must comply with the warrant provision of the fourth amendment. Since those decisions, the Court has emphasized the exceptions to, rather than the strictures of, the warrant requirement. This article analyzes developments in the law concerning administrative searches and seizures and offers some observations on future trends.