Houston Voters Approve Restrictions on Marijuana Arrests and a Ban on No-Knock Police Raids
The first provision might curtail local pot busts, but the second one is unlikely to have a meaningful impact.
Warrants
Connecticut's New Restrictions on Flock Cameras Highlight the Dearth of Meaningful Privacy Protections
Until recently, the state imposed no limits at all on automated license plate readers, which track the travels of innocent motorists across the country.
The Feds Took $460,000 From This Arizona Convenience Store Owner and Never Explained Why
Mario Ayala is seeking the return of his property, which federal agents seized more than a year and a half ago for reasons that remain mysterious.
Other Courts Should Heed a Federal Judge's Warning About Flock-Enabled Mass Surveillance
Car-tracking cameras, like cellphones, generate vast amounts of sensitive data.
Despite a Notable Victory in Oklahoma, Legal Challenges to Flock Cameras Still Face Long Odds
State and federal courts have almost uniformly ruled that searches of ALPR databases do not implicate the Fourth Amendment.
Your Right to Privacy Doesn't Disappear When You're in Public
Defenders of Flock-style surveillance systems argue that people “have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public.” They're wrong.
Banning Flock Won't Be Enough Without Police Reform
It was Flock that led cops to the wrong woman. It was police who ignored the other evidence and jailed her.
Court Upholds Suspicionless Cellphone Searches at the Border
A federal appeals court says it's legal for federal agents to scroll through your phone and take pictures of its contents without a warrant or suspicion of criminal activity.
Why Conservative Republicans Are Worried About License Plate Cameras
Recent comments by Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis reflect a bipartisan backlash against warrantless surveillance.
A New Bill Reflects the Bipartisan Backlash Against Flock-Enabled Mass Surveillance
Criticism from Trump allies and recent survey results show that resistance to widespread deployment of automated license plate readers spans the political spectrum.
A California County Used Drones To Spy on Homes. A Settlement Will Now Require Warrants.
Sonoma County launched the program to find illegal cannabis grows, but it secretly morphed into a wider search for minor building code violations.
The Belated Backlash Against Flock Cameras
Americans are starting to recognize the dangers of pervasive surveillance by automated license plate readers.
He Spent Nearly 6 Years in Prison Based on the Word of a Notoriously Dishonest Houston Drug Cop
In a federal lawsuit, Byron Prophet argues that police supervisors "turned a blind eye" for years as Gerald Goines framed innocent people.
Kansas Lawsuit: ALPRs Turn a License Plate Into the 'Functional Equivalent' of a 'GPS Tracking Device'
The Kansas Justice Institute argues that Wichita's "warrantless ALPR dragnet surveillance program" violates the state constitution's privacy protections.
Chicago Homeowner Sues Border Cops for Warrantless Raid
Will they be held responsible for the illegal search and the damage to his property?
Pennsylvania's Top Court Unanimously Rejects Warrantless Searches of Private Land
The justices said the "open fields" doctrine, a sweeping exception to constitutional privacy protections, does not apply in the Keystone State.
Police Used a Truck Inspection To Search for Drugs. The 7th Circuit Said the Fourth Amendment Forbids It.
Cops stopped a semitruck because of a drug tip, then tried to dress the illegal search up as a routine inspection.
A Trump-Appointed Judge Quashes a Subpoena Aimed at Validating the President's Stolen-Election Fantasy
The decision rebukes the DOJ for demanding "private and sensitive" information about Georgia election workers "with no legitimate law enforcement purpose."
The Supreme Court's 'Reasonable Expectation of Privacy' Test Defies Expectations
Neil Gorsuch proposes an alternative to a Fourth Amendment standard that has proven to be an unreliable safeguard against government snooping.
The 5th Circuit Says a Houston Cop Reasonably Killed 2 Innocent People Falsely Accused of Selling Heroin
The officer's avowed reasons for killing Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas were contradicted by the physical evidence.
Neil Gorsuch Urges Supreme Court To Correct 2 Wrong Turns That Undermined Civil Liberties
The justice criticizes the Court’s endorsement of coercive plea bargaining and its embrace of dubious Fourth Amendment doctrines.
In Chatrie, Neil Gorsuch Reiterates His Critique of 2 Dubious Fourth Amendment Doctrines
The justice argues that the "reasonable expectation of privacy" test and the third-party doctrine are indefensible in theory and unworkable in practice.
In Big Win for Fourth Amendment Advocates, the Supreme Court Says 'Geofence Warrants' Count as a 'Search'
Understanding Chatrie v. United States.
Rejected Search Warrant Applications Raise Further Questions About the Federal Case Against Don Lemon
After a magistrate judge said a DHS investigator had failed to establish probable cause, the government decided it did not need the YouTube and iPhone records after all.
A SCOTUS Case Exposes the Dangers of 2 Misguided Fourth Amendment Doctrines
"Geofence" searches illustrate the perilous combination of modern technology and deference to law enforcement.
Houston Irks Texas Gov. Greg Abbott by Reminding Cops To Comply With the Fourth Amendment
The governor is threatening to defund the police because of an ordinance noting that an ICE administrative warrant "does not justify a stop, arrest, or continued detention" by city officers.
Trump Says He's Willing To 'Risk' Your Rights for His Surveillance Powers
The president once said he wanted to kill warrantless electronic spying. So much for that.
Innocent Property Owners Deserve 'Just Compensation' When Cops Wreck Their Homes or Businesses
Two petitions ask the Supreme Court to uphold the remedy required by the Fifth Amendment.
The DOJ Wants To Drop Charges Against 2 Cops Who Played a Crucial Role in Breonna Taylor's Death
But for a fraudulent and misleading warrant affidavit, Taylor would not have been killed during a fruitless late-night drug raid.
Markwayne Mullin Says Agents Don't Need a Warrant If They're Pursuing a Suspect. Here's What the Law Says.
“Officers don’t have the blanket authority to arrest anyone who runs from them,” says an attorney from the Institute for Justice.
Controversial Geofence Warrants Face Supreme Court Challenge
Technological innovations allow the authorities to see who has visited whole geographic areas.
Do Construction Workers Have Fourth Amendment Rights? A Federal Court Will Decide.
The Department of Homeland Security argues it doesn't need a warrant to enter a construction site.
Libertarians Tried To Warn You About Executive Power
Plus: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson embraces warrantless ICE searches, the Super Bowl halftime culture war, and Trump continues funding the Department of Education
Drug Dogs Should Not Be Unleashed To Authorize Apartment Searches, a SCOTUS Brief Argues
The 4th Circuit held that the doorstep of an apartment did not qualify as protected "curtilage" under the Fourth Amendment.
Leaked ICE Memo Claims Agents Can Enter Homes Without Judicial Warrants
Under this understanding of the Fourth Amendment, an attorney at the Institute for Justice says, “there is little left of the rights of Americans to be secure in their houses.”
If You Give a Bear a Badge, Will It Respect Your Rights?
Despite their general ignorance of constitutional law, bears pose a much less grave threat to your civil liberties than humans do.
Misconduct in the James Comey Case Stemmed From a Reckless Rush To Indict Him
A magistrate judge says the government’s missteps may warrant dismissal of the charges against the former FBI director.
Dick Cheney, Vice President and Self-Described 'Darth Vader,' Was a Champion of the War State
The former vice president liked being compared to the supervillain as a joke. But he had seriously villainous effects on millions of people in real life.
Can Police Enter Your Home Without a Warrant? The Supreme Court Will Soon Decide.
Even well-intentioned “community caretaking” can’t justify ignoring the Fourth Amendment.
Warrantless Searches, Tariffs, and the Unitary Executive: 3 SCOTUS Cases To Watch This Fall
In a new Supreme Court term packed with big cases, these disputes stand out.
ICE Doesn't Want You To Know Why They Bought a Phone Cracking System
The agency has been expanding its surveillance capabilities without a public explanation.
Florida Deputies Jailed Her for 3 Days Even Though She Was Obviously Not the Suspect Described in a Warrant
A federal judge cleared the way for Jennifer Heath Box's lawsuit against the cops who misidentified her as a fugitive, despite a "mountain of evidence" that they had the wrong woman.
'Botched' Drug Raids Show How Prohibition Invites Senseless Violence
The war on drugs authorizes police conduct that otherwise would be readily recognized as criminal.
Do Cops Still Need a Warrant To Search Your Home in an 'Emergency'?
SCOTUS will soon decide.
Did the Secret Service Surveil James Comey Without a Warrant After '86 47' Post?
The former FBI director's cringey Instagram photos are not an "exigent circumstance" that allows law enforcement to circumvent the Constitution.
Denver Case Highlights the Potentially Deadly Hazards of Police Raids Based on Secondhand Information
Michael Mendenhall wants the Supreme Court to reconsider a precedent that allows home invasions based on nothing but hearsay.
Trump Administration Admits ICE Arrested Mahmoud Khalil Without a Warrant
The administration's lawyers claim that this was justified by Khalil's likelihood of escape.
Georgia Police Tried To Arrest a Paralyzed Man for Kicking Down a Woman's Door and Assaulting Her
The woman has since recanted her allegations.
