The Right 'To Be Secure': Los Angeles v. Patel

Cato Supreme Court Review, 2015

29 Pages Posted: 9 Aug 2018

See all articles by Luke Milligan

Luke Milligan

Ordered Liberty Program, University of Louisville School of Law

Date Written: July 23, 2015

Abstract

In Los Angeles v. Patel, the U.S. Supreme Court provided additional guidance on the scope of the "administrative" exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. The Court in Patel held that a city ordinance requiring operators to turn over guest registries to police on demand was facially unconstitutional because it denied operators the opportunity for pre-compliance review. The majority did not address Fourth Amendment text or values, and it made only vague, passing references to its practical implications.
I argue in this short article that the Patel majority was quietly influenced by the “to be secure” text of the Fourth Amendment. At the time of the founding, the right “to be secure” guaranteed not simply a right to be “spared” unreasonable searches and seizures, but also a right to be left “tranquil” or “confident” against such government actions. The influence of the “to be secure” text on Patel can be gleaned from the majority’s emphasis on the “relative power” of hotel operators during police encounters, respondents’ counsel Tom Goldstein’s focus on “tranquility” at oral argument, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lengthy discussion as amicus on the original meaning of “to be secure.” The upshot is that the original meaning of the Fourth Amendment appears to have played a silent but important role in Patel.

Keywords: Fourth Amendment; Reasonableness

Suggested Citation

Milligan, Luke, The Right 'To Be Secure': Los Angeles v. Patel (July 23, 2015). Cato Supreme Court Review, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3218652 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3218652

Luke Milligan (Contact Author)

Ordered Liberty Program, University of Louisville School of Law ( email )

Wilson W. Wyatt Hall
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40208
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.louisville.edu/law/faculty-staff/faculty-directory/milligan-luke

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