How does a search warrant get approved?

Good Question How does a search warrant get approved? By Jeff Wagner Jeff Wagner Reporter/Anchor Jeff Wagner joined the WCCO-TV team in November 2016 as a general assignment reporter, and now anchors WCCO's 4 p.m. newscasts. Read Full Bio Jeff Wagner October 13, 2026 / 10:31 PM CDT / CBS Minnesota Add CBS News on Google Search warrants have been critical in the fight against fraud in Minnesota, with federal investigators using them as a tool to gather evidence at daycare and autism centers earlier this year. Without them, law enforcement risks violating people's rights.In Good Question, Jeff Wagner learns how search warrants get approved and why they are rarely rejected."Under our Constitution, the Fourth Amendment, it requires that, for someone to search your home in particular, they need to have a warrant that's been signed by a judge or a magistrate upon a showing of probable cause," Julie Jonas, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, said. "Law enforcement has to show that a judicial officer, either a judge or magistrate, that they have probable cause to believe that there will be evidence of a crime found in a particular place."There are different ways law enforcement establishes probable cause, often through eyewitness testimony. It can come from a member of the public, a confidential informant or law enforcement themselves.Next, they need to be specific about where they're searching and what they're looking for. "It doesn't allow for law enforcement to just have a generalized search of your entire home," Jonas said.For example, if investigators are looking for paperwork, they could search anywhere you might find it, like in desk drawers, a closet or digital files on a computer.   "It's different if they're looking for a piano; then they can only go into those spaces that could hold a piano," Jonas said. Another example involves the location. If law enforcement specifies the search to involve a home, then they cannot search the detached garage if it wasn't mentioned in the application. "Anything that they found in the (garage) without getting another warrant could be subject to suppression, and then they wouldn't be able to use it in any subsequent prosecution," Jonas said.Despite the heavy scrutiny, judges rarely deny warrant applications. A study analyzed 33,000 warrant applications over three years in Utah. It found 98% eventually were approved and 93% were approved on the first submission. That approval rate didn't surprise Jonas. "There's no requirement on how much time the judge spends reading law enforcement's affidavit or that the judge does any individual investigation, him or herself," she said. "I think they tend to believe law enforcement has done its job; they've investigated this case as far as they can without searching this person's home, now we're gonna give a great deal of deference to law and enforcement."If a search warrant application is denied, Jonas says it's usually because witness statements, especially from confidential informants, weren't properly verified.Once law enforcement submits the application, the potential approval comes back quickly.  "There's judges on call 24/7, so law enforcement goes in with an affidavit and the warrant is issued very, very quickly to that same officer who can then go execute it," Jonas said. Featured Local Savings FBI, police using luminol to search for blood in Olney "house of horrors" Rep. Omar's D.C. home searched by DHS investigators DNA found at Olney "house of horrors" after investigators searched home with luminol Rally for Rep. Omar held in Minneapolis following federal raid Hinojosa denies she voted against a ban on state income tax in Texas, contradicting legislative records Do speed cameras make drivers slow down? St. Paul sues Maplewood over police firearm training facility