1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Torres v. Madrid: Police Use of Force, Fourth Amendment Seizures, and Fleeing Suspects Updated April 1, 2021 UPDATE: On March 25, 2021 the Supreme Court held in a 5-to-3 decision in Torres v. Madrid that
2、the “application of physical force to the body of a person with intent to restrain is a seizure” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, “even if the force does not succeed in subduing the person.” In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Roberts and joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan, a
3、nd Kavanaugh, the majority, looking to the historical definition of seizure and its present-day legal meaning, concluded that “seizure of a person plainly refers to an arrest.” In addition, the majority determined that historically, an arrest could occur even through mere touch“the slightest applica
4、tion of force” such as by the “laying of hands”and even where the arrestee escaped. Although, the majority acknowledged that Torres arose from “a shooting” rather than the laying of hands on a suspect, it declined to “draw an artificial line between grasping with a hand and other means of applying p
