Aguilar v. Texas

Aguilar v. Texas
Argued March 25–26, 1964
Decided June 15, 1964
Full case nameAguilar v. Texas
Citations378 U.S. 108 (more)
84 S. Ct. 1509; 12 L. Ed. 2d 723
Case history
PriorCertiorari to the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
Holding
The magistrate must be informed of some of the underlying circumstances relied on by the person providing the information and some of the underlying circumstances from which the affiant concluded that the informant, whose identity was not disclosed, was credible or his information reliable.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Earl Warren
Associate Justices
Hugo Black · William O. Douglas
Tom C. Clark · John M. Harlan II
William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart
Byron White · Arthur Goldberg
Case opinions
MajorityGoldberg, joined by Warren, Douglas, Brennan, White
ConcurrenceHarlan
DissentClark, joined by Black, Stewart
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. IV, XIV
Overruled by
Illinois v. Gates (1983)

Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108 (1964), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which held that "[a]lthough an affidavit supporting a search warrant may be based on hearsay information and need not reflect the direct personal observations of the affiant, the magistrate must be informed of some of the underlying circumstances relied on by the person providing the information and some of the underlying circumstances from which the affiant concluded that the informant, whose identity was not disclosed, was credible or his information reliable." Along with Spinelli v. United States (1969), Aguilar established the Aguilar–Spinelli test, a judicial guideline for evaluating the validity of a search warrant based on information provided by a confidential informant or an anonymous tip. The test developed in this case was subsequently rejected and replaced in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (1983).