I just uploaded the final published version of my essay, Fourth Amendment Pragmatism, 51 B.C. L. Rev. 1511 (2010) to SSRN. Here’s the abstract:
Fourth Amendment Pragmatism
Category: Fourth Amendment
Posts about the Fourth Amendment by Professor Daniel J. Solove for his blog at TeachPrivacy, a privacy awareness and security training company.
City of Ontario v. Quon: The Rights of Other Parties to the Communication
I blogged about City of Ontario v. Quon a few days ago, and I want to raise another important issue in the case, one my colleague Orin Kerr has astutely pointed out. The case is on appeal to the U.S. Supreme from the 9th Circuit: Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., Inc., 529 F.3d 892 […]
Thoughts on City of Ontario v. Quon: The Fourth Amendment and Privacy of Electronic Communications in the Workplace
The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in City of Ontario v. Quon, an important Fourth Amendment case involving the privacy of electronic communications in the workplace.
Herring v. United States, the Exclusionary Rule, and Errors in Databases
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Herring v. United States, a case examining whether the exclusionary rule should apply to a search that was based on an error in a database. In particular, due to a negligent error in a computer database indicating that there was an outstanding felony arrest warrant for Bennie […]
William Cuddihy’s The Fourth Amendment: Origins and Original Meaning 602-1791
I’m delighted to announce the publication of William J. Cuddihy’s The Fourth Amendment: Origins and Original Meaning 602 – 1791 (Oxford University Press, January 2009). The book has just come out in print, hot off the press, and it’s an absolutely essential volume for any scholar of constitutional history, criminal procedure, or the Fourth Amendment. […]
Do People Have a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Abandoned DNA?
A recent NY Times article discusses how the police are increasingly collecting DNA samples from suspects — not with warrants or probable cause — they are gathering it surreptitiously from the abandoned DNA that people leave behind:
Random Bag Searches for Train Travel
According to the AP: Amtrak will start randomly screening passengers’ carry-on bags this week in a new security push that includes officers with automatic weapons and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains. The initiative, to be announced by the railroad on Tuesday, is a significant shift for Amtrak. Unlike the airlines, it has had relatively […]
Christopher Slobogin’s Privacy at Risk
Professor Christopher Slobogin (University of Florida College of Law) has just published Privacy at Risk: The New Government Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment (U. Chicago Press, Nov. 1, 2007). According to the book description:
Judge Strikes Down Part of USA Patriot Act
In Mayfield v. United States, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken (District of Oregon) held that parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which were altered by the USA Patriot Act in 2001, are unconstitutional. The case was brought by Brandon Mayfield, a who was put under extensive surveillance and then detained for […]
The Fourth Amendment, Email Headers, and IP Addresses
Is there a reasonable expectation of privacy in email headers and IP addresses under the Fourth Amendment? No, sayeth the 9th Circuit in US v. Forrester: