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Human Dignity Under The Fourth Amendment, John D. Castiglione

John D. Castiglione

Fourth Amendment "reasonableness" jurisprudence as currently constituted is incapable of providing consistent decisions reflective of the underlying philosophical and moral structure of the Constitution. Increasingly, courts have allowed reasonableness analysis to devolve into little more than an awkward balancing exercise between the needs of law enforcement and the interests of "privacy." Upon initial consideration, this seems appropriate; the Fourth Amendment has been long been understood as a bulwark against unreasonable privacy invasions in the course of law enforcement. This understanding is, however, incomplete. As courts have moved towards an almost exclusive focus on privacy as the counter-balance to the government's …