Privacy: Katz Vs. United States

Below is a short sample of the essay Privacy: Katz Vs. United States. If you sign up you could be reading the rest of this essay in under two minutes. Registered users should login to view the essay.

Privacy: Katz Vs. United States

Katz V. The United States The petitioner Mr. Katz was arrested for illegal
gambling, he had been gambling over a public phone. The FBI attached
an electronic recorder onto the outside of the public phone booth. The
state courts claimed this to be legal because the recording device was on
the outside of the phone and the FBI never entered the booth. The
Supreme Court Ruled in the favor of Katz. They stated that the Fourth
Amendment allowed for the protection of a person and not just a persons
property against illegal searches.
The Fourth Amendment written in 1791 states, The right of the
people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized (Galloway 214). The court was unsure on
weather or not they should consider a public telephone booth as an area
protected by the fourth amendment.
The court did state that: The Fourth Amendment protects people,
not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his
own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. But
what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the
public, may be constitutionally protected.
Searches conducted without warrants have been held unlawful
notwithstanding facts unquestionably showing probable cause, for the
Constitution requires that the deliberate impartial judgment of a judicial
officer be interposed between the citizen and the police (Maddex 201).
The FBI agents found out the days and times he would use the pay
phone. The FBI attached a tape recorder to the outside of the telephone
booth. The FBI recorded him using the phone six different times, all six
conversations were around three minutes long. They made sure that they
only recorded him and not anyone elses conversations. Katz lost the
case all the way up to the Supreme Court because the state courts and
the Court of Appeals said there was no amendment violation since there
was no physical entrance into the area occupied by the petitioner (Hall
482).
The Constitutional Fourth Amendment was looked at and analyzed
very carefully and the Supreme Court decided in favor of Katz with a
seven to one vote. Strong arguments were brought to the stand, the
Governments eavesdropping violated the...

The complete article is about 1103 words and 4.41 pages long.

To continue reading the complete article, subscribe below and get free instant unlimited access.

Once you have registered for an Account, No refunds can be issued.
Please make sure you look over the site before you purchase an account!!!