Day 1: Foundations of Search and Seizure
The Fourth Amendment is the "on switch." But first, you must identify who flipped it. The Fourth Amendment does not protect you from nosy roommates or private security guards; it is a restraint exclusively on state power.
If a private citizen acts at the specific direction of a police officer, they become an "agent of the state," and the Fourth Amendment triggers. Otherwise, private rummaging is constitutionally silent.
For decades, we relied on physical trespass. Since Katz, we now use a "double-track" system. A search occurs if the government violates a reasonable expectation of privacy OR physically intrudes on a protected area.
Even if there's no expectation of privacy (like driving on public roads), physically attaching a GPS tracker to a car is a search because it's a physical trespass on a protected "effect."
Is the police conduct a "Search" under the 4th Amendment? Click to test a scenario:
Certain areas are "open" to the police because you have effectively shared them with the public.
Open Fields: No protection. Even with fences and "No Trespassing" signs, police can hike your woods (Oliver).
Curtilage: High protection. The area immediately surrounding the home (porch, side yard) is treated like the house itself (Jardines).
Once you share data with a bank or phone company, you lose your expectation of privacy. Exception: Carpenter holds that cell-site location data is so revealing it still requires a warrant.
A seizure of property is meaningful interference with possessory interest. A seizure of a person occurs when a reasonable person would feel they are not free to leave.
To be seized, there must be:
1. Physical force applied, OR
2. A show of authority to which the suspect actually yields.
(Running from the cops? You aren't seized yet!)
Fourth Amendment rights are personal. You cannot assert someone else's rights. To complain about a search, you must have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched.
Overnight Guests: Have standing (Minnesota v. Olson).
Business/Casual Guests: Generally no standing (Minnesota v. Carter).