The 4th amendment

• The 4th amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.

• This was very important when creating the bill of rights. The 4th amendment limits the power of the government by not allowing them to just barge into peoples houses at will.

• The 4th amendment was adopted in response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, a type of general search warrant issued by the British government.

Katz vs United States

• The case extended the protection of the 4th amendment from just physical intrusion to all areas where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Mapp vs. Ohio

The United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, may not be used in state law criminal prosecutions in state courts, as well, as had previously been the law, as in federal criminal law prosecutions in federal courts.

Smith vs. Maryland

• A case outside of the protection of the 4th amendment.

• A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the installation and use of the pen register was not a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, and no warrant was required.