Category Archives: Uncategorized

It is also the 262d anniversary of the argument in Paxton’s case, something I note every year. Visiting the Old Boston State House and seeing the exhibit of the court argument will make an impression.

ShotSpotter alert received by a nearby officer in the early morning hours with his observations on the scene in a minute or so on the totality was reasonable suspicion. Commonwealth v. Ford, 2022 Mass. App. LEXIS 14 (Feb. 18, 2022):

The Eleventh Circuit en banc concludes that the good faith exception may sometimes be reached on appeal even though the government didn’t raise it before the panel. United States v. Campbell, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 4317 (11th Cir. Feb. 16, … Continue reading →

Orin S. Kerr, Katz as Originalism, 71 Duke L. J. 1047 (2022). Abstract:

Law360: Baltimore PD Reach Deal To End Aerial Surveillance Challenge by Allison Grande

EFF: Police Aerial Surveillance Endangers Our Ability to Protest by Matthew Guariglia (“The ACLU of Northern California has concluded a year-long Freedom of Information campaign by uncovering massive spying on Black Lives Matter protests from the air. The California Highway … Continue reading →

Unum Life Insurance sought declaratory judgment that it wanted to know who to pay life insurance to under Oklahoma’s “slayer rule” that a killer can’t take life insurance or under an estate. Here, the alleged killer was not mentally fit, … Continue reading →

WaPo: For seniors using tech to age in place, surveillance can be the price of independence by Heather Kelly (“To age in their own homes, seniors are juggling being watched with being on their own”):

Intercept: School Officials Welcome Homeland Security Surveillance After Student Fights (“Administrators in Prince George’s County say they wanted help monitoring school safety — but sweeping surveillance could land kids in gang databases and families in deportation proceedings.”)

CNS: Activists leak 600 hours of mostly Dallas police helicopter footage after city’s 22 terabyte loss of criminal case data (“The leaked video shows the surveillance of people in their front yards, standing by their cars and sunbathing with no … Continue reading →

Lawfare: The Impact of Carpenter v. United States in the Lower Courts and the Emerging Carpenter Test by Matthew Tokson:

Police entry for a drug overdose is an exigency. United States v. Van Pelt, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 211734 (D.Mont. Nov. 2, 2021). And there’s this:

ABAJ: Chemerinsky: SCOTUS continues to hold the line on qualified immunity (“Two unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decisions on Oct. 18 show the justices are continuing to broadly interpret qualified immunity to limit suits against government officials, especially police officers. Perhaps … Continue reading →

Law.com: Analysis: Recent Woes for Prosecutors in Cellphone Searches (“Three recent district court decisions exemplify how courts have struggled with the Fourth Amendment questions raised by the intrusive nature of cellphone searches.”)

Three weeks passed in a murder investigation between officers thinking they might have to search and getting the search warrant. Other search warrants were obtained in the interim, and the investigation was ongoing. The delay was reasonable. United States v. … Continue reading →

A pseudo welfare check cannot be a ruse for a plain view under Jardines. Police officers entering defendant’s girlfriend’s yard under the guise of a welfare check over the normal access route were looking for and discovered a 9 mm … Continue reading →

The officers here had a reasonable basis for arresting plaintiff for obstruction of an officer, whether it was based on a reasonable mistake of fact or of law. And that plays into qualified immunity. Barrera v. City of Mount Pleasant, … Continue reading →

Removal of children from the home on reasonable suspicion of exposure to toxic fumes, even if governed by the Fourth Amendment, was based on reasonable suspicion and was subject to qualified immunity. Stanley v. Hutchinson, 20-1822 (8th Cir. Sept. 8, … Continue reading →

NYTimes: How the N.Y.P.D. Is Using Post-9/11 Tools on Everyday New Yorkers (“Two decades after the attack on New York City, the Police Department is using counterterrorism tools and tactics to combat routine street crime.”)

The Economist: A 38-year-old charity will be integrated into Apple’s newest operating system (“The peculiar status of NCMEC, funded by the Justice department but independent of it, allows what might otherwise be an unlawful search”)