So I'm playing through LA Noire and there are a few cases where you're blatantly illegally searching businesses and homes. I know illegal searches and seizures are outlawed by the Bill of Rights but was illegally searching homes commonplace in the 1940s? Was it condoned by the courts at this point and required a future court case (like the 1960s Miranda case) to finally get it right? Thanks!
The Fourth Amendment isn't self-executing, however. A very important development was the 1961 case of Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, in which the United States Supreme Court extended the Fourth Amendment's protections (through 14th Amendment incorporation) and ruled that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment may not be used in state criminal courts. Now there were real consequences for local police who conducted illegal searches: the results couldn't be used in court, and so the ends could no longer justify the means.