Whether the Fourth Amendment requires the affidavit supporting a search warrant to show a nexus between the criminal activity at issue and the place to be searched

QUESTION PRESENTED A jury convicted petitioner Michael Benanti of a Hobbs Act conspiracy and aiding and abetting charges related to attempted armed bank extortion, armed bank extortion, carjacking, kidnapping, and related firearms charges. On direct appeal, he argued in part that the district court should have excluded much of the evidence at trial because the police violated the Fourth Amendment, and because admission of the evidence violated Fed. Evid. R. 403. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected Mr. Benanti’s appeal. In so doing, it decided important federal questions in a way that conflicts with relevant decisions of this Court. The court of appeals ignored the nexus requirement for search warrant requests complying with the Fourth Amendment. It also ignored the law governing Fed. Evid. R. 403. The court of appeals ruled that the district had indeed erred by allowing testimony the prejudice of which “overwhelmed whatever minimal probative value the testimony had.” App. 8a. The court of appeals nevertheless allowed the rule’s prohibition to be negated by other overwhelming evidence of guilt in violation of this Court’s decisions and other federal law governing harmless error and the related plain-error test. Thus, this petition presents the following question: 1. Whether the Fourth Amendment requires the affidavit supporting a search warrant to show a nexus between the criminal activity at issue and the place to be searched. i 2. Whether a violation of a defendant’s substantial rights due to unfair prejudice caused by the admission of evidence in violation of Fed. Evid. R. 403 can be deemed to be harmless in light of other evidence of guilt. ii