Law Commons^™

That's Not My Bag, Baby: The Seventh Circuit Tackles Fourth Amendment Standing In United States V. Carlisle, Mariana Karampelas

Seventh Circuit Review

In its recent decision in United States v. Carlisle, the Seventh Circuit made clear that challenging the constitutionality of a search is no easy task. Although the Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable government intrusion, defendants seeking to suppress evidence must first prove a reasonable expectation of privacy. This Note will use Carlisle as a basis of exploring the law of Fourth Amendment standing. This Note will argue that the Seventh Circuit applied a flawed test in evaluating a defendant's subjective expectation of privacy, but nevertheless arrived at a result supported by existing precedent. Finally, this Note will examine …

Conclude To Exclude: The Exclusionary Rule's Role In Civil Forfeiture Proceedings, Daniel W. Kaminski

Seventh Circuit Review

The United States Supreme Court established the exclusionary rule in order to deter law enforcement officers from conducting illegal searches and seizures. By excluding illegally seized evidence, the Court looked to provide American citizens with a remedy to uphold their Fourth Amendment rights. Traditionally, the exclusionary rule excluded only illegally obtained evidence in criminal proceedings. In One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, however, the Court applied the exclusionary rule to civil forfeiture proceedings because the forfeiture statute was quasi-criminal in nature: like a criminal proceeding, its object was to penalize the commission of an offense.

The forfeiture …

Let's Be Reasonable: Fourth Amendment Principles In The Digital Age, Scott D. Blake

Seventh Circuit Review

The expansion of computers in American society has led to new developments in Fourth Amendment doctrine. Just like every other American, criminals use computers, which requires law enforcement to search and seize computers. Frequently, an executing officer inadvertently discovers computer files with illegal content that are outside the scope of the original warrant. Reasoning that traditional Fourth Amendment doctrine does not provide sufficient protection in a digital age, two federal circuits have crafted alternative approaches that deviate from it. However, the Seventh Circuit, in United States v. Mann, has continued to apply the traditional principles of Fourth Amendment doctrine …

Krieg V. Seybold: The Seventh Circuit Adopts A Bright Line In Favor Of Random Drug Testing, Dana E. Lobelle

Seventh Circuit Review

In Krieg v. Seybold, Robert Krieg challenged the City of Marion, Indiana’s, policy of random drug testing as it applied to his job as a heavy-equipment operator in the Department of Streets and Sanitation. While the Fourth Amendment normally would require the City to have a reasonable suspicion that Krieg used drugs before it could require him to submit to a drug test, the Supreme Court has created a “safety” exception to this rule. This exception permits government employers to test certain safety-sensitive employees for drugs without suspicion where a characteristic of the workplace makes suspicion-based testing impractical. The …

Probationers, Parolees And Dna Collection: Is This "Justice For All"?, Jessica K. Fender

Seventh Circuit Review

In 1994, the DNA Identification Act permitted the government to establish a national database (CODIS) where it could collect DNA samples from those convicted of certain violent crimes. In the last few years, DNA collection statutes have been repeatedly expanded, to the point where some now require samples upon arrest. Not surprisingly, the federal DNA collection statute has been challenged repeatedly on Fourth Amendment grounds. In the Seventh Circuit, this issue was most recently addressed in United States v. Hook, a case in which a white-collar criminal on supervised release challenged the federal DNA collection statute. The court held …