ABSTRACT
Learned Hand concern for freedom of expression in v. Kirschenblatt had been reflected earlier in Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten, 244 F. 535, in which he overturned a postmaster's refusal to circulate in the mails a magazine that spoke out against the government, especially as related to conscription. Hand said that "it is broadly a totally different thing to search a man's pockets and use against him what they contain, from ransacking his house for everything which may incriminate him." Although acknowledging that "strict consistency" might give to a search of the premises incident to arrest "the same scope as to the search of the person", Judge Hand feared that such an interpretation would result in approving the very kinds of general warrants that the Fourth Amendment had been designed to prevent. The case represented an early precursor for later Supreme Court decisions that would give individuals more protection against illegal searches by the police.
