21 U.S.C. § 879
Section 879 · Search warrants
This is § 509 of the Controlled Substances Act
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 51 court decisions — leading case United States v. Mapp (1973)
Most recently applied in Daniel Alexis Chace v. The State of Wyoming (February 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
A search warrant relating to offenses involving controlled substances may be served at any time of the day or night if the judge or United States magistrate judge issuing the warrant is satisfied that there is probable cause to believe that grounds exist for the warrant and for its service at such time.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1974—Pub. L. 93–481 struck out designation “(a)” before “A search warrant”, and struck out subsec. (b) which permitted officers authorized to execute search warrants to break open and enter premises under certain circumstances and which required that such officers identify themselves and give reasons and authority for their entry after such entry.
Change of Name
“United States magistrate judge” substituted in text for “United States magistrate” pursuant to section 321 of Pub. L. 101–650, set out as a note under section 631 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.