Condé Nast Traveler: Why Hotel ‘Do Not Disturb’ Signs Are Disappearing by Mark Ellwood
Your right to sleeping in may come second to some bigger issues.
“For instance, the SEC did not ‘violate [Avalon’s] legal rights’ when it ‘obtain[ed] evidence’ from the [USAO of the] DNJ that the DNJ had in turn obtained through a court-issued search warrant. Rule 4.4(a). As described above, when it accepted the DNJ’s offer of documents obtained from a search of Avalon’s email account, the SEC took the precaution of preparing a list of Filter Terms and expected to receive only those documents seized from the business’s email account that survived the filter.” SEC v. Lek, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6704 (D. N.J. Jan. 16, 2018) (The opinion offers no clue what argument was made that anybody’s legal rights were violated. If there was no Fourth Amendment or Rule 6 or 41 violation, then, by necessity, there’s no 4.4 violation. It’s a clear chicken and egg argument.]
The Sixth Amended Complaint doesn’t specify whether plaintiff’s jail calls are preceded by a warning they are recorded or that he was otherwise warned. Nevertheless, it is nearly universally held there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a jail call, even an otherwise privileged one to his wife, which this was. Witchard v. Morales, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6568 (M.D. Fla. Jan 16, 2018).*
Anchorage Daily News: State admits recording jail conversations between defense lawyers and clients by Lisa Demer:
For four years, a tucked-away monitoring system in a certain visitation room at the Anchorage jail recorded conversations between attorneys and their clients – defendants in criminal court – without anyone knowing. Now defense attorneys are concerned – some are livid – about what they say is a striking violation of basic constitutional rights.
WaPo: Big Brother on wheels: Why your car company may know more about you than your spouse by Peter Holley:
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The FTC moved for a preliminary injunction and appointment of a receiver which was granted on an emergency basis. Defendants now claim a Fourth Amendment violation from seizure of records. The claim is waived by not raising it sooner. Even if not, (1) the exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil cases, and (2) the FTC showed probable cause. FTC v. Credit Bureau Ctr., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6188 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 14, 2018) (see Treatise § 9.20 n.15).
The Atlantic: Can Government Officials Have You Arrested for Speaking to Them? by Garrett Epps
The Supreme Court faces a test of the authority of politicians to use police to silence their critics.
The administrative search exception under Atlanta city ordinance doesn’t apply to a motorcycle club that isn’t remotely a “closely regulated business.” Summary judgment for plaintiffs granted. Brown v. City of Atlanta, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6222 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 9, 2018):
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WaPo: Meet the 24-year-old Trump campaign worker appointed to help lead the government’s drug policy office by Robert O’Harrow Jr.:
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AP: Judge: Atlanta warrantless search policy unconstitutional:
The city of Atlanta had a policy of conducting unlawful, warrantless searches of commercial properties, a federal judge ruled this week in a case brought after officers searched a motorcycle club’s meeting space.
Gizmodo: Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens by Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu:
We can’t know when or if Facebook will ever actually scan digital photos for dust or tap into our phones’ gyrometers to more fully map the relationships between all the people in the world, but we now know, thanks to the U.S. Patent Office, that Facebook at least thinks these things are possible.
If Facebook can get it, the government can get it from them.
CNN: Rand Paul threatens to filibuster over FISA surveillance program by Veronica Stracqualursi:
Paul said he would vote to reauthorize Section 702, however, if there are protections in place for Americans’ private information, and added that he supports the USA Rights Act, another amendment to the program proposed by Rep. Justin Amash, R-Michigan.
Volokh Conspiracy: The Fourth Amendment, the Exclusionary Rule, and Illegal Government Searches by Damon Root
Why illegally obtained evidence is generally inadmissible in court.
Volokh Conspiracy: Yes, the Positive Law Model of the Fourth Amendment is Originalist by Will Baude
Orin asked me to correct the record; I’m correcting it.
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The same cell phone was used to set up three Craigslist robberies. Defendant’s claim that a cell site simulator was used to track his number is speculative at best and is rejected. He gets a hearing, however, on whether the CSLI order to track him was proper. People v. McDuffie, 2018 NYLJ LEXIS 67 (Kings Co. Jan. 12, 2018).*
The Federal Public Defender has standing to participate in Rule 41(g) litigation to recover the recordings of attorney-client meetings and telephone calls that were recorded at a private prison used as a federal detention center. The government’s concerns over standing don’t rise to the level to quash subpoenas duces tecum for the recordings. United States v. Black, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5793 (D. Kan. Jan. 12, 2018):
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Defendant was arrested in the lobby of his college dorm at WSU. His room was on the fourth floor. The lobby was not part of his curtilage because hundreds come through there, residents and non-residents alike. State v. Bannon, 2018 Kan. App. LEXIS 4 (Jan. 12, 2018).
Four circuits have held that 404(b) evidence is subject to the exclusionary rule, but the Eighth Circuit hasn’t weighed in. The government withdraws this evidence, so the motion is moot. United States v. Walker, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5894 (D. Minn. Jan. 12, 2018).
The affidavit for the search warrant for defendant’s house failed to show nexus to his house, and the affidavit on nexus was so deficient it doesn’t satsify the good faith exception. About all there was on the document was the caption. United States v. Parker, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 214887 (N.D. Iowa Dec. 6, 2017) (R&R):
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The law requires a working taillight. Defendant had one. “The officer’s erroneous application of the functioning taillight requirement was not an objectively reasonable mistake of law.” Therefore, Heien and the objectively reasonable mistake of law doesn’t apply here. The court, however, discusses Heien at length because it hasn’t yet applied it. State v. Sutherland, 2018 N.J. LEXIS 2 (Jan. 11, 2018) (link not working on posting here). Syllabus:
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The natural dissipation of alcohol in the blood alone is not exigency for a warrantless taking of blood. State v. Ruiz, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 302 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi – Edinburg Jan. 11, 2018).
Defendant didn’t object to the search of his wallet when he was detained, so the state never was on notice to make a record. Thus, the argument is waived. People v. Sankara, 2018 NY Slip Op 00224, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 223 (1st Dept. Jan. 11, 2018).*
The Fourth Amendment decision that the search was reasonable and lawful in defendant’s criminal case is collateral estoppel to a civil claim over the search. Harvey v. United States, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5282 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 9, 2018).
The trial court made insufficient findings of fact and conclusions of law on whether there was a valid plain view, so the case is remanded to the trial court. State v. Burnham, 289 Ore. App. 783, 2018 Ore. App. LEXIS 93 (Jan. 11, 2018), reconsidering and withdrawing 287 Ore. App. 661, 403 P.3d 466 (2017).*