Searches and seizures
James Rosen case prompts frank discuss about balance between First Amendment, national security
The Justice Department has launched an unprecedented crackdown on leaks within the government — going so far as to seize the phone records of several AP journalists and searching the personal email of a Fox News correspondent. The crackdown has prompted an outcry from media and civil rights advocates.
Supreme Court Says Jails Can Conduct Strip-Searches
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that authorities may strip-search people arrested for any offense – no matter how minor – before they are admitted to jail. In Florence v. County of Burlington, Albert Florence argued that he was subjected to humiliating strip searches after he was mistakenly arrested in 2005. However, according to […]
Does the Fourth Amendment Protect Against GPS Tracking?
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in a case that could have broad implications for how modern surveillance technology is used to track criminals. The question at stake in The United States v. Antoine Jones is whether Fourth Amendment protections from “unreasonable searches and seizures” extends to GPS tracking and where the boundaries between public and private space […]