"Kyllo v. United States"

Paper Summary:

The paper asserts that the privacy guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment was violated in the "Kyllo v. United States" case due to the use of modern technology and its capabilities to search a home without direct entry. The paper discusses how new advances in technology have made interpretation of the Fourth Amendment and its principles difficult in recent years. The paper contends that because of the sophisticated methods of surveillance that exist, the protection of our private houses is of paramount importance.

From the Paper:

""Our home is the basic refuge for all citizens. It's where we have our greatest expectations of privacy, where we are free to let down our guard, and where we should have our greatest feeling that we are free from government spying," (Lerner, 2001) Defense attorney Kenneth Lerner was right in his assumptions that the home is the essential foundation of privacy within the average American life today. However, in the case of his defendant, Daniel Lee Kyllo, this privacy was violated due the use of modern technology and its capabilities to search a home without direct entry. This violation resulted in the arrest of the defendant Lee, leaving many to question these technological tactics on the basis of the protection provided within the Fourth Amendment. Despite the Supreme Court's decision against Lee, the use of new technological devices as seen in this case abuses the older language and standards of the Fourth Amendment, which was written at a time the founding fathers could have never even imagined heat seeking technology."

Sample of Sources Used:

• McKenzie, Daniel. "What Were They Smoking?: The Supreme Court's Latest Step in a Long, Strange Trip through the Fourth Amendment." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 93(1). 2002. pp. 153-178.
• Lerner, Kenneth. "Kyllo v. United States - Oral Argument." The Oyez Project. http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2000/2000_99_8508/argument/. 2001. (last visited May 14, 2008).
• Taslitz, Andrew E. "The Fourth Amendment in the Twenty-First Century: Technology, Privacy, and Human Emotions." Law and Contemporary Problems. Duke University. 2002. 65(2). pp.125-153.
• The Oyez Project, Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27.<http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2000/2000_99_8508/> 2001. (last visited May 14, 2008).

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