Back to the Future: Returning to Reasonableness and Particularity Under the Fourth Amendment

34 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2014 Last revised: 12 Apr 2014

See all articles by Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

Georgia College and State University; Assistant Professor of Public Law

Charles MacLean

Metropolitan State University School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice

Date Written: February 19, 2014

Abstract

Issuing one-hundred or fewer opinions per year, the United States Supreme Court cannot keep pace with opinions that match technological advancement. As a result, in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie, the Court needs to announce a broader principle that protects privacy in the digital age. That principle, what we call “seize but don’t search,” recognizes that the constitutional touchstone for all searches is reasonableness.

When do present-day circumstances — the evolution in the Government’s surveillance capabilities, citizens’ phone habits, and the relationship between the NSA and telecom companies — become so thoroughly unlike those considered by the Supreme Court thirty-four years ago that a precedent…simply does not apply? The answer, unfortunately for the Government, is now.

Keywords: privacy, technology, search and seizure, Riley, Wurie, Katz, Chimel, search incident to arrest, Fourth Amendment, constitutional law

JEL Classification: K14, K40, K42

Suggested Citation

Lamparello, Adam and Lamparello, Adam and MacLean, Charles, Back to the Future: Returning to Reasonableness and Particularity Under the Fourth Amendment (February 19, 2014). Iowa Law Review Bulletin, 2014 Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2398646 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2398646

Adam Lamparello (Contact Author)

Georgia College and State University ( email )

Milledgeville, GA 31061-0490
United States

Assistant Professor of Public Law ( email )

Charles MacLean

Metropolitan State University School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice ( email )

700 East Seventh Street
St. Paul, MN 55106
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
116
Abstract Views
951
Rank
430,562
PlumX Metrics