Warrants that are short on things required by the Fourth Amendment — probable cause, specificity, the correct address, solid affidavits — are often given a free pass because law enforcement has plenty of options when it comes to sneaking around the edges of the Constitution.

In some cases, the excuses are pretty much just this: “Hey, maybe we didn’t even need a warrant!” Those excuses include exigent circumstances (“no time to get a good warrant!”), plain view (“hey, we just saw the stuff right out in the open!”), community caretaking (“we cared so much about this person’s health we arrested/killed them!”), and any number of other exceptions (vehicle exception, officer safety, border security).

Then there’s something called “good faith,” a defense offered almost exclusively in hopes of excusing officers who acted in bad faith. That theory is basically this: “Well, we had a piece of paper with a judge’s signature on it.”