Fourth Amendment: Search and Seizure

The Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable search and seizures of our person, our house, our papers, and our effects. In many cases, this amendment governs our interactions with the police. Before the government—including police officers—can search your home or seize your property, it needs a good reason. This is the big idea behind the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. The government needs particularized suspicion—a reason that’s specific to each suspect—before it can get a warrant. Broadly speaking, our Constitution says that the police should only be able to invade a person’s rights to privacy, property, or liberty if they have a specific reason to think that the suspect has done something wrong.

Big Questions

Can the government track you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for an entire month, using your cell phone data and location information?

Why did the Framers put the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights? What was the Founding generation’s vision for the Fourth Amendment and its protection against unreasonable searches and seizures?

When does the Fourth Amendment allow the government to search you or seize your property? When is a government’s search of seizure “reasonable”?

How has the Supreme Court interpreted the Fourth Amendment over time? And how has it dealt with the challenge of shaping the Fourth Amendment’s meaning in light of new technologies, especially as it applies to public schools?

Video: Recorded Class

Fourth Amendment
Advanced Session

Fourth Amendment
Introductory Session