What is a Search Flashcards
How many Tests for a Search?
2: Katz and Jones
Katz Test
Search occurs when the gov’t invades a place where you
(1) have a subjective, reasonable expectation of privacy, and
(2) society is prepared to recognize that expectation as reasonable
*Phone Booth
Think of the test this way: if a member of the public has the right to be there, and can see what’s going on, then there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Jones Test
It is a search if the government physically occupies private property with the purpose of obtaining information.
*GPS device on a car
Oliver (Open Fields Doctrine)
So-called open fields are not subject to Fourth Amendment protections, taken either as a matter of the original text (they are not persons, houses, papers, or effects) nor under the Katz reasonable expectations test.
Dunn (Curtilege)
The curtilage of a home is entitled to the same protection as the home itself. A four factor test determines whether something is part of the curtilage:
1) proximity to house,
2) inclusion in an enclosure,
3) nature of the uses to which the area is put, and
4) steps taken to protect the area from observation.
Ciraolo (Vantage Point)
One has no reasonable expectation of privacy in what is observable from a “public vantage point” where a person has a right to be and which renders the activities clearly visible.
Riley (Helicopter Surveillance)
The surveillance of the interior of a partially covered greenhouse in a residential backyard from the vantage point of a helicopter located 400 feet above the greenhouse does not constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment.
Kyllo (Thermal Imaging)
When the government uses a device that is not in general public use to explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a “search” and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant.
Greenwood (Garbage)
If you put your garbage on the curb for pick up, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in it.
Knotts
A person travelling in an automobile on public thoroughfares has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements from one place to another.
*Beeper to help Officers
White (Third party Doctrine)
No reasonable expectation of privacy in what you tell to another person. You assume the risk of your “friend” being an informant, or that he is wearing a wire (cases that White treats as identical).
Smith (phone dialing - third party)
(Narrow) No reasonable expectation of privacy in the phone numbers you dial. (Broad) No reasonable expectation in records voluntarily transmitted to a third party.
In Re: Application for Historical Cell Site Data (location data - third party)
No reasonable expectation of privacy in what you knowingly and voluntarily turn over to a third party, except this now also includes location (gathered from cell phone towers) in addition to phone numbers.
ACLU v. Clapper
Government has authority to collect virtually all call detail records or “telephony metadata.” Must have reasonable and articulable suspicion to query the database.
Davis (cell phone location/time data)
A cell phone, unlike a car, can accompany its owner anywhere and so knowing the location information transforms a “private” event into a “public” one. Where you take your cell phone is “private in nature” and not “public data.” It is private even taken location by location—we don’t need an aggregation of the data to find a privacy violation.
