Drone Law Today

Welcome back, Drone Law Nation! Today we continue our special series on Drone Law Today: Drones and the Fourth Amendment!   This second episode looks at the case of Katz v. United States, a Supreme Court case that shows how our police "search and seizure" case law changes when the Court considers new technology.   In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the Olmstead decision (from 1928) where the Court held that wiretaps were not searches under the Fourth Amendment! That means that police did not need a warrant to put up a wiretap!   Does that sound crazy to you? It should, because that is certainly not the law today! This shows you how new technology crashes into the Constitution in unpredictable ways. The Court over time "changes its mind" to adjust to new things.   The Katz decision is part of this evolution. Instead of considering "liquor smuggling" like in Olmstead, this case looks at the use of telephone technology to run a gambling ring (and FBI "bugs" on phone booths).   And w