High-Tech Searches
Overview of Supreme Court Decisions on Police Surveillance
The fountainhead of privacy in the United States is the Fourth Amendment, which ensures that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated….”For at least the past 50 years, this provision has been subject to more litigation than any other in the Bill of Rights. This may come as no surprise, considering the Fourth Amendment protects, as Justice Brandeis put it, “the right to be let alone — the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” — Olmstead v….
