Law Commons^™

Congressional Due Process, Andrew M. Wright

Andrew M Wright

This article identifies significant deficiencies in Congress’s investigative practices. Consequences of congressional scrutiny can be profound, yet the second Congress calls, almost none of the safeguards of the American legal system are present. I argue such practices demonstrate institutional indifference to constitutional due process norms. The article highlights differences between congressional and judicial proceedings with respect to the safeguards of witnesses and targets. The purpose of congressional inquiry fundamentally differs from adjudication, and therefore does not call for the full complement of procedural rights afforded in judicial proceedings. Congress seeks facts and expertise to inform legislative judgments that will have …

Calling Out Maryland V. King: Dna, Cell Phones, And The Fourth Amendment, Jennie Vee Silk

Jennie Vee Silk

In Maryland v. King, the Supreme Court narrowly upheld a Maryland statute that permits police to obtain a DNA sample from an arrestee without a search warrant. A year later, the Court drastically changed course and provided significantly more protection to an arrestee’s privacy. In a unanimous decision, the Court in Riley v. California held that police must obtain a search warrant before they can search the cell phone of an arrestee.

This article is the first to compare the Court’s conflicting decisions in Riley and King. Riley and King present the same issue: governmental invasion of privacy for …

You Booze, You Bruise, You Lose: Analyzing The Constitutionality Of Florida’S Involuntary Blood Draw Statute In The Wake Of Missouri V. Mcneely, Francisco D. Zornosa

Francisco D Zornosa

No abstract provided.

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

Tonja Jacobi

It is routinely assumed that there is a trade-off between police efficiency and the warrant requirement. But existing analysis ignores the interaction between police 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 police resources to develop countermeasures, police 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 police investigation and criminal innovation are considered in a dynamic context, the police efficiency rationale …

Checked In: Real-Time Geolocation Surveillance And The Fourth Amendment, Eric J. Struening

Eric J Struening

Leaks have revealed that the use of personal technology such as cell phones and e-mail plays a large part in how the government obtains national security information. However, it is still an open question of how far the protection of the Fourth Amendment provides an individual against government intrusion in that type of technology. This article examines how the Fourth Amendment applies to the real-time tracking of national security targets through technology. I argue that a non-physical, short-term, warrantless, real-time trace of an individual’s location for national security purposes will not infringe the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. As …

Whose Metadata Is It Anyways? Why Riley V. California Illustrates That The National Security Administration's Bulk Data Collection Is A Fourth Amendment Problem, Jesse S. Weinstein

Jesse S Weinstein

No abstract provided.

Abidor V. Napolitano: Suspicionless Cell Phone And Laptop Searches At The Border Compromise The Fourth And First Amendments, Adam Lamparello, Charles Maclean

Adam Lamparello

The article explores the December 31, 2013 Abidor decision where the federal district court upheld the ongoing application of the border search exception as applied to deep, forensic searches of laptops and other digital devices. That exception allows suspicionless searches of any persons, effects, and “closed containers” crossing a border into the United States, and laptops and external hard drives are generally considered “closed containers” under the border search exception. We argue that the border search exception, grounded as it is in pre-digital age fact patterns, should no longer serve as precedent for border searches of the immense memories of …

Amicus Brief -- Riley V. California And United States V. Wurie, Charles E. Maclean, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

Warrantless searches of cell phone memory—after a suspect has been arrested, and after law enforcement has seized the phone—would have been unconstitutional at the time the Fourth Amendment was adopted, and are unconstitutional now. Simply stated, they are unreasonable. And reasonableness—not a categorical warrant requirement—is the “touchstone of Fourth Amendment analysis.”

The Rise And Fall Of The Exclusionary Rule, Albert E. Poirier Jr.

Albert E Poirier Jr.

The years between 1913 and 1967 saw a growing tendency on the part of the Supreme Court to allow the submission of evidence that had been gained unlawfully by the police or prosecutors. Since 1961, and particularly during the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts, the rules excluding evidence have steadily diminished. This paper seeks to review the history of the exclusionary rule.

Cell Phone Searches In A Digital World: Blurred Lines, New Realities And Fourth Amendment Pluralism, Steven I. Friedland

Steven I. Friedland

State and federal courts are split over whether cell phone searches incident to a lawful arrest are permissible under the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court has the opportunity to create uniformity by accepting a certiorari petition in a cell phone search incident to arrest case, either United States v. Wurie or Riley v. California. The Court should do so to create an analysis that incorporates sensory enhancing technology, not avoids it, as it has done to date.

The split in case law evidences a central contradiction. Fourth Amendment rules need to be predictable and based on clear guidelines for effective …

Probable Cause On A Leash, Taylor D. Phipps

Taylor D Phipps

This article develops in four parts. Part II of this article explores the historical evolution of Supreme Court caselaw and the Court’s recent decision in Florida v. Harris.[1] This article attempts to enlighten the Court’s standard in Harris by looking to prior caselaw and discusses why courts should interpret the holding in a way that allows defendants to challenge the legitimacy and accuracy of training and certification programs. If applied incorrectly, Harris will violate the Fourth Amendment and allow searches to occur on less than probable cause. Part III reviews the fallibility of drug detection dogs and the diversity …

Social Media And Our Misconceptions Of The Realities, Richard Sanvenero Jr.

Richard Sanvenero Jr.

This article will review the current laws of the expectations of privacy under the two-pronged Katz test, and more specifically other cases that the courts have tried to interpret the test as applicable to social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and e-mail. Since there seems to be “no light at the end of the tunnel” with any uniform decision within the courts on the Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure when there is a reasonable expectation of privacy with social media. This reasonable expectation standard is developed by the users themselves who will allow their rights to be …

The Piranha Is As Deadly As The Shark: A Case For The Limitation On Deceptive Practices In Dna Collection, Brett A. Bauman

Brett A Bauman

Police deception tactics are utilized throughout the United States as a way to catch unsuspecting criminals. Although criticized in many respects, most deceptive police techniques are not only legal, but are actually encouraged. DNA collection and analysis is no exception—techniques are frequently used by law enforcement officers in an attempt to collect a suspect’s genetic specimen in the interest of solving crimes. While law enforcement officers typically have the best interests of society in mind, the current practices employed by officers to collect suspects’ DNA violate the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment provides protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and …

Traffic Stops And The New Exclusionary Rule Regime: Why Harris, Hudson, And Herring Mandate That The Discovery Of An Outstanding Arrest Warrant Attenuate The Taint Of An Illegal Traffic Stop Except In The Case Of A Flagrant Fourth Amendment Violation, Risher G. Caves

Risher G Caves

Suppose that during the course of an illegal traffic stop officers discover an outstanding arrest warrant for the driver, make the arrest, and then discover evidence such as narcotics in the driver’s pocket. Under the exclusionary rule, should the narcotics be considered the “fruit” of the illegal stop or does the discovery of the arrest warrant attenuate the taint? This article explores the longstanding circuit split on this question and contends that the discovery of an outstanding arrest warrant should attenuate the taint unless the initial illegal traffic stop was a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment. Almost all courts …

Contextual Expectations Of Privacy, Andrew Selbst

Andrew Selbst

Fourth Amendment search jurisprudence is nominally based on a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” but actual doctrine is detached from society’s conception of privacy. Courts rely on various binary distinctions: Is a piece of information secret or not? Was the observed conduct inside or outside? While often convenient, none of these binary distinctions can adequately capture the complicated range of ideas encompassed by “privacy.” Privacy theorists have begun to understand that a consideration of social context is essential to a full understanding of privacy. Helen Nissenbaum’s theory of contextual integrity, which characterizes a right to privacy as the preservation of expected …

The Fourth Amendment's National Security Exception: Its History And Limits, L. Rush Atkinson

L. Rush Atkinson

Each year, federal agents conduct thousands of “national security investigations” into suspected spies, terrorists, and other foreign threats. The constitutional limits imposed by the Fourth Amendment, however, remain murky, and the extent to which national security justifies deviations from the Amendment’s traditional rules is unclear. With little judicial precedent on point, the gloss of past executive practice has become an important means for gauging the boundaries of today’s national security practices. Accounts of past executive practice, however, have thus far been historically incomplete, leading to distorted analyses of its precedential significance. Dating back to World War II, national security investigations …

The Xenophobic Fourth Amendment: How Racism Has Influenced The Discriminatory Application Of The Fourth Amendment To Non-Citizens, Steven T. Sacco Mr.

Steven T. Sacco Mr.

This article illustrates how racism continues to color judge-made immigration law in the United States, but specifically with respect to federal jurisprudential analysis and application of the right to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment as it is applied to non-citizens residing in the United States. The result is a different set of rules and reduced freedoms under the Fourth Amendment for non-citizens as compared to citizens – a xenophobic Fourth Amendment.

Hold On: The Remarkably Resilient, Constitutionally Dubious "48-Hour Hold", Steven Mulroy

Steven Mulroy

This article discusses the surprisingly widespread, little-known practice of “48-hour holds,” where police detain a suspect without charge or access to bail for up to 48 hours to continue their investigation; at the end of 48 hours, they either charge or release him. Although it has not been discussed in the scholarly literature, the practice has occurred in a number of large local jurisdictions over the past few decades, and continues today in some of them. The “holds” often take place, admittedly or tacitly, without the probable cause needed to charge a defendant, and thus in violation of the Fourth …

Contextual Expectations Of Privacy, Andrew Selbst

Andrew Selbst

Fourth Amendment search jurisprudence is nominally based on a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” but actual doctrine is detached from society’s conception of privacy. Courts rely on various binary distinctions: Is a piece of information secret or not? Was the observed conduct inside or outside? While often convenient, none of these binary distinctions can adequately capture the complicated range of ideas encompassed by “privacy.” Over the last decade, privacy theorists have begun to understand that a consideration of context is essential to a full understanding of privacy. Helen Nissenbaum’s theory of contextual integrity, which characterizes a right to privacy as the …

"Lonesome Roads:" Driving Without The Fourth Amendment, Lewis R. Katz

Lewis R. Katz

American states and municipalities have so many minor traffic regulations that every time a driver gets behind the wheel of a car he or she is likely to commit multiple violations. The violation of any traffic regulation empowers police officers to stop the vehicle, ticket and, in some states, arrest the motorist. Police are physically unable to stop and ticket, let alone arrest, every motorist committing a traffic violation. Instead, police are vested with unlimited discretion when choosing which motorists to stop, warn, ticket, or arrest. So long as there is probable cause for a traffic violation, courts will not …

The Court Misses The Point Again In United States V. Jones: An Opt-In Model For Privacy Protection In A Post Google-Earth World, Mary G. Leary

Mary G Leary

“Nothing is private anymore.” This is an oft repeated sentiment by many Americans, not to mention the focus of judicial confusion and legislative blustering. In the wake of publicly available technologies such as Google Earth, internet tracking, cell phone triangulation, to name just a few, many people feel unable to prevent the government or anyone from obtaining private information. While this may seem simply a function of a modern world, this reality creates a fundamental problem for Fourth Amendment jurisprudence which has heretofore gone unrecognized. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. Therefore, in order for the …

Arizona V. Gant: The Good, The Bad, And The Meaning Of Reasonable Belief, Geoffrey S. Corn

Geoffrey S. Corn

Reasonable belief. Use of this phrase by the Supreme Court in Arizona v. Gant transformed what could have been a clear and logical holding into a source of potential uncertainty. At its core, Gant constricts the authority to search an automobile incident to lawful arrest (SITLA), an authority established by the Court almost thirty years earlier in New York v. Belton. The Court concluded Belton had evolved to a point that could no longer be justified by the underlying exigency rationale for SITLA, creating an automatic and unrestricted search authority whenever the police arrested an occupant or recent occupant of …

"Lonesome Road:" Driving Without The Fourth Amendment, Lewis R. Katz

Lewis R. Katz

American states and municipalities have so many minor traffic regulations that every time a driver gets behind the wheel of a car he or she is likely to commit multiple violations. The violation of any traffic regulation empowers police officers to stop the vehicle, ticket and, in some states, arrest the motorist. Police are physically unable to stop and ticket, let alone arrest, every motorist committing a traffic violation. Instead, police are vested with unlimited discretion when choosing which motorists to stop, warn, ticket, or arrest. So long as there is probable cause for a traffic violation, courts will not …

The Politics Of Privacy In The Criminal Justice System: Information Disclosure, The Fourth Amendment, And Statutory Law Enforcement Exemptions, Erin E. Murphy

Erin E Murphy

When criminal justice scholars think of privacy, they think of the Fourth Amendment. But lately its domain has become far less absolute. The United States federal code currently contains over twenty separate statutes that restrict both acquisition and release of covered information. Largely enacted in the latter part of the twentieth century, these statutes address matters vital to modern existence. They control police access to drivers’ licenses, education records, health histories, telephone calls, e-mail messages, and even video rentals. They conform to no common template, but rather enlist a variety of procedural tools to serve as safeguards – ranging from …

Gps Tracking Devices And Facial Recognition Technology: A Comparative Analysis Of Jones’S Effect On Law Enforcement’S Future Use Of Surveillance-Enhancing Technology, James Mariani

James Mariani

New technology benefits everyone—cops and robbers are no exception. However, technology and privacy, unfortunately so, tend to have an inverse relationship, and when it comes to law enforcement, the Fourth Amendment is the curve. The Supreme Court, throughout its jurisprudence dealing with the warrantless use of technology-enhanced surveillance, has pushed the balance of this line in both directions. In the upcoming decision of United States v. Jones, the Court will redraw the line once more by deciding whether the government’s use of a GPS tracking device is a search under the Fourth Amendment. This note will predict the outcome of …

Freezing Assets In The War On Terror: Ofac And The Fourth Amendment, Rebecca Kagan Sternhell

Rebecca Kagan Sternhell

In 2001, President Bush issued Executive Order 13224 declaring a state of national emergency and triggering an array of emergency powers. Chief among these powers was the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”), which permits the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) to freeze the assets and accounts of suspected terrorists and their affiliates. Recently OFAC has gone after U.S. charities. Three US charities filed suit alleging Fourth Amendment violations. Each organization received a different judicial determination on the Fourth Amendment question. The paper discusses these three cases and demonstrates no consensus on the Fourth Amendment issue. There …

Fourth, Fifth And Sixth Amendment Considerations For Admissibility Of Defendants’ Admissions And Confessions, Nancy Haydt

Nancy Haydt

Over the past three terms, the U.S. Supreme Court has rendered opinions that have great impact on the admissibility of a criminal defendant's statement which constitutes an admission under FRE Rule 801(d)(2). This paper addresses recent High Court rulings implicating Fourth Amendment Search and Seizure rights, Fifth Amendment Rights to silence and to counsel, and Sixth Amendment Right to non-interference with trial counsel in the context of admissions and confessions, and discusses the profound effect these rulings have in Criminal Procedure.

Exigency And Emergency, Understanding The Warrantless Non-Consensual Home Entry, Jacob Chen

Jacob Chen

The Fourth Amendment of the United States protects the right of the people to be secure in their houses against unreasonable searches and seizures. To ensure that the Fourth Amendment is respected by law enforcement, evidence that is seized during an unlawful search could be suppressed and denied admittance into evidence. In many circumstances, law enforcement officials are required to get a warrant before entering into a person’s house when conducting a search or carrying out an arrest. But there are certain circumstances when it is unnecessary for the police to get a warrant. A general umbrella term for the …

Countering Criminalization: Toward A Youth Development Approach To School Searches, Sarah Jane Forman

Sarah Jane Forman

Every since New Jersey v. T.L.O., the dominant narrative, particularly in inner-city schools, has been that school children are dangerous and violent, drug dealing, gang affiliated, and out of control. Under the rubric of school safety, students are stripped of the full protection afforded by the 4th Amendment while being subjected them to a model of school discipline that utilizes law enforcement officers to enforce school rules. Such policies alienate targeted youth from mainstream society, increasing the lure of counter-culture ideas, decreasing the legitimacy of the rule of law, and feeding the school-to prison pipeline. In section one, I examine …

Hey! You! Get Off Of My Cloud: Defining And Protecting The Metes And Bounds Of Privacy, Security, And Property In Cloud Computing, Timothy D. Martin

Timothy D Martin

Cloud computing is a growing force in today’s interconnected technological world. It allows people and organizations to purchase computing power and resources on an as-needed, pay-as-you-go basis. Users can employ it to satisfy modest needs, such as simple word-processing tasks, or to create large-scale enterprise applications delivered on the web. But cloud computing raises questions of functionality, security, confidentiality, ethics, enforcement, and data ownership. The lack of a clear body of law defining and regulating law enforcement’s access to electronic data and ability to prosecute related crimes creates other risks and erodes confidence in cloud computing. This paper begins with …