Fourth Amendment Commons^™

Fourth Amendment Infringement Is Afoot: Revitalizing Particularized Reasonable Suspicion For Terry Stops Based On Vague Or Discrepant Suspect Descriptions, Caroline E. Lewis

William & Mary Law Review

In Terry v. Ohio, the Supreme Court granted law enforcement broad power to perform a limited stop and search of someone when an officer has reasonable suspicion that the person is engaged in criminal activity. The resulting “Terry stop” created a way for police officers to investigate a suspicious person without requiring full probable cause for an arrest. The officer need only have “reasonable suspicion supported by articulable facts” based on the circumstances and the officer’s policing “experience that criminal activity may be afoot.” Reasonable suspicion is—by design—a broad standard, deferential to police officers’ judgment. Law enforcement officers …

The Qualitative Fourth Amendment: The Case For A Refined, Information-Focused Approach To Fourth Amendment Cases Involving Non-Trespassatory Government Surveillance, Joshua L. Wagner

William & Mary Law Review

In his 2001 majority opinion for Kyllo v. United States, Justice Scalia adopted his characteristic chiding tone to gently reproach what he saw as a notably liberal departure from the original textual interpretation of the Constitution. The Katz test for Fourth Amendment violations, to Scalia, was plainly “circular, and hence subjective and unpredictable.” That it was one of the most influential and oft-discussed decisions the Supreme Court has ever handed down made little difference; regardless of whatever Justice Harlan and his successors had said, the Fourth Amendment was, at its heart, a protection against government interference with property and had …

Standing To Challenge Familial Searches Of Commercial Dna Databases, Hillary L. Kody

William & Mary Law Review

In April 2018, police officers arrested Joseph James DeAngelo. DeAngelo, the officers claimed, was the “Golden State Killer,” a man who committed dozens of murders and over fifty sexual assaults in California in the 1970s and 1980s. The Golden State Killer had long eluded police, even though his DNA profile linked him to dozens of violent crimes. While law enforcement officials from several jurisdictions in California had collected his DNA from crime scenes, the Golden State Killer’s crimes predated modern DNA analysis. Police found little use for the profile without a suspect’s profile to compare to it.

Nearly forty years …

Taking Shelter Under The Fourth Amendment: The Constitutionality Of Policing Methods At State-Sponsored Natural Disaster Shelters, Kyle M. Wood

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pricing The Fourth Amendment, Miriam H. Baer

William & Mary Law Review

Critics have long decried the Fourth Amendment’s lack of an adequate remedy to secure its compliance. Neither the exclusionary rule nor the threat of civil liability deters police misconduct, leaving scholars to cast about for alternative measures. The emphasis on penalties, however, overlooks a different problem: detection. Because of policing’s fast-paced nature, even so-called “flagrant” Fourth Amendment violations trigger insufficient liability due to low probabilities of detection.

This Article addresses this problem by drawing on the Pigouvian tax literature. The Pigouvian tax—sometimes referred to as a “corrective tax”—is a pricing instrument imposed by regulators in an amount equal to the …

Regulating Drones Under The First And Fourth Amendments, Marc Jonathan Blitz, James Grimsley, Stephen E. Henderson, Joseph Thai

William & Mary Law Review

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 requires the Federal Aviation Administration to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, into the national airspace system by September 2015. Yet perhaps because of their chilling accuracy in targeted killings abroad, perhaps because of an increasing consciousness of diminishing privacy more generally, and perhaps simply because of a fear of the unknown, divergent UAV-restrictive legislation has been proposed in Congress and enacted in a number of states. Given UAV utility and cost-effectiveness over a vast range of tasks, however, widespread commercial use ultimately seems certain. Consequently, it is imperative to understand …

Obscured By Clouds: The Fourth Amendment And Searching Cloud Storage Accounts Through Locally Installed Software, Aaron J. Gold

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Innovation And The Warrant Requirement: Reconsidering The Rights-Police Efficiency Trade-Off, Tonja Jacobi, Jonah Kind

William & Mary Law Review

It is routinely assumed that there is a trade-off between police efficiency and the warrant requirement. But existing analysis ignores the interaction between law-enforcement investigative practices and criminal innovation. Narrowing the definition of a search or otherwise limiting the requirement for a warrant gives criminals greater incentive to innovate to avoid detection. With limited resources to develop countermeasures, law enforcement officers will often be just as effective at capturing criminals when facing higher Fourth Amendment hurdles. We provide a game-theoretic model that shows that when law-enforcement investigation and criminal innovation are considered in a dynamic context, the police efficiency rationale …

Personal Curtilage: Fourth Amendment Security In Public, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

William & Mary Law Review

Do citizens have any Fourth Amendment protection from senseenhancing surveillance technologies in public? This Article engages a timely question as new surveillance technologies have redefined expectations of privacy in public spaces. It proposes a new theory of Fourth Amendment security based on the ancient theory of curtilage protection for private property. Curtilage has long been understood as a legal fiction that expands the protection of the home beyond the formal structures of the house. Based on custom and law protecting against both nosy neighbors and the government, curtilage was defined by the actions the property owner took to signal a …

Privacy And Consent Over Time: The Role Of Agreement In Fourth Amendment Analysis, Christine Jolls

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unintentional Levels Of Force In §1983 Excessive Force Claims, Nathan R. Pittman

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Katz Cradle: Holding On To Fourth Amendment Parity In An Age Of Evolving Electronic Communication, Christopher R. Brennan

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Fourth Amendment Rights Of Children At Home: When Parental Authority Goes Too Far, Kristin Henning

William & Mary Law Review

Although it is virtually undisputed that children have some Fourth Amendment rights independent of their parents, it is equally clear that youth generally receive less constitutional protection than adults. In a search for continuity and coherence in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence involving minors, Professor Henning identifies three guiding principles—context, parental authority, and the minor’s capacity—that weave together children’s rights cases. She argues that parental authority too often prevails over children’srights, even when context and demonstrated capacity would supportaffirmation of those rights. Context involves both the physical settingin which Fourth Amendment protections are sought and the nature of the privacy interest at …

The Death Of Suspicion, Fabio Arcila Jr.

William & Mary Law Review

At the nation’s founding, search warrants and the concept of suspicion were well entrenched as a means of limiting governmental search power. This tradition largely explains why today’s Fourth Amendment law includes two foundational black letter rules: the presumptive warrant requirement and the presumptive suspicion requirement. Unfortunately, neither of these rules is correct. Certainly they have historical support, especially in the common law. But whether they reflect the totality of our historic experience is questionable, especially when civil search practices are considered. More importantly, modern developments—such as urban life and technological advancements, the rise of the regulatory state, and post-9/11 …

Suspicionless Border Seizures Of Electronic Files: The Overextension Of The Border Search Exception To The Fourth Amendment, Scott J. Upright

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Content/Envelope Distinction In Internet Law, Matthew J. Tokson

William & Mary Law Review

Whether a component of an Internet communication is classified as "content" or "envelope" information determines in large part the privacy protection it receives under constitutional and statutory law. Courts and Internet law scholars have yet to offer a means of determining the content/envelope status of unique aspects of Internet communications-from email subject lines to website URLs. As a result, data with the potential to expose every website, every Internet file downloaded, and every email sent by an Internet user may be unprotected under current law.

This Article develops a legal framework for distinguishing content from envelope information in unique areas …

Storming The Castle To Save The Children: The Ironic Costs Of A Child Welfare Exception To The Fourth Amendment, Doriane Lambelet Coleman

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Long Distance Remand: Florida V. Bostick And The Re-Awakened Bus Search Battlefront In The War On Drugs, Dennis J. Callahan

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wake Up And Smell The Contraband: Why Courts That Do Not Find Probable Cause Based On Odor Alone Are Wrong, Michael A. Sprow

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ad Hoc Adjudication: People V. Champion, Another Confusing Element In The Turmoil Following Minnesota V. Dickerson, Audra A. Dial

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Central Meaning Of The Fourth Amendment, Tracey Maclin

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Abridged Too Far: Anticipatory Search Warrants And The Fourth Amendment, Michael J. Flannery

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

"The Right Of The People To Be Secure...": Toward A Metatheory Of The Fourth Amendment, Thomas E. Baker

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence Seized In Foreign Searches: When Does The Fourth Amendment Exclusionary Rule Apply?, Steven H. Theisen

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Generic Trademarks, The Ftc, And The Lanham Act: Covering The Market With Formica, David E. Shipley

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Airport Freight And Passenger Searches: Application Of Fourth Amendment Standards

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law - Search And Seizure - Probable Cause Standard And The Informant - Spinelli V. United States, 89 S. Ct. 584 (1969)., Ray C. Stoner

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Procedure - Electronic Eavesdropping - Katz V. United States, 88 S. Ct. 507 (1967)

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Search And Seizure - "Fruit Of Poisonous Tree" Doctrine - Jacobs V. Warden, 367 F.2d 321 (4th Cir. 1966), Gilbert A. Bartlett

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Extent Of The Exclusionary Rule, Jon W. Bruce

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.