Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85 (1979), is an important case about individualized suspicion. Just because police have authorization to search a bar and its bartender for illegal drugs does not, without more, give them authorization to search—nor even pat down—all of its customers. A full search of a person of course requires a warrant or an arrest of that person (then a search incident), and a frisk requires reasonable suspicion the person is armed and dangerous. Drinking—or merely hanging out—in a bar that seems to do some drug dealing inherently provides none of those things. Thus, the Court struck down an Illinois law that permitted detaining and searching all such persons pursuant to any search warrant, intended to protect evidence and officers. “A person’s mere propinquity [great word!] to others independently suspected of criminal activity does not, without more, give rise to probable cause to search that person,” declared the Court. Quite right.
(Now, drug dealing tends to be a dangerous business, and things also change when persons have stronger connection to a searched place, such as a home. So, just like the Sibron outcome, which the Court cites as precedent for that statement, one cannot make more of Ybarra than the facts merit.)
But, returning to those facts… the Ybarra bar was “the Aurora Tap Tavern [great name!], located in the city of Aurora, Illinois.” So, thanks to my two industrious daughters living in Chicago, I now have some pictures of the joint. (The bartender was “Greg, … a male white with blondish hair appx. 25 years [old],” but there we’ve got nothing.)
As an afterword, I might note that Googling (oh, I’m sorry, ‘searching it up’) may lead one astray. There is today an “Aurora Tap House” in Aurora, Illinois (still a great name!), but that is not the location of the Ybarra raid, as my daughters discovered by looking to the Ybarra filed Appendix, which includes the probable cause affidavit and resulting search warrant. The Aurora Tap Tavern was located at “79 S. LaSalle, Aurora, Illinois,” and was “the first floor of a two story brick structure with green wood trim. The entrance is a green wood frame door with an air conditioner installed above it. There is a ‘Miller High Life’ sign in the front window and a ‘Schlitz’ sign hanging outside the front door.” Those signs are off course no longer there, but, hey, still green paint, and maybe an air conditioner above the door, if that left door was also included within 79 S. LaSalle at the time. Here is the photo currently on Google Maps, dating from April of 2024:
As a second afterword, that Appendix also includes the search warrant return, and students might like to know that police seized, among other items, “One Spoon[,] $7.00 U.S.C.[,] One Glass[,] … [and] Several Packets Fireworks.” Why only one spoon? One glass? Sigh… inquiring minds may never know.
Finally, as a third afterword, since officer specious claims of suspicious appearance often make for sadly humous classroom moments—well, Ybarra does not disappoint. From the Court’s opinion:
When the police entered the Aurora Tap Tavern on March 1, 1976, the lighting was sufficient for them to observe the customers. Upon seeing Ybarra, they neither recognized him as a person with a criminal history nor had any particular reason to believe that he might be inclined to assault them. Moreover, as Police Agent Johnson later testified, Ybarra, whose hands were empty, gave no indication of possessing a weapon, made no gestures or other actions indicative of an intent to commit an assault, and acted generally in a manner that was not threatening. At the suppression hearing, the most Agent Johnson could point to was that Ybarra was wearing a 3/4-length lumber jacket, clothing which the State admits could be expected on almost any tavern patron in Illinois in early March.
So it goes.
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