Divergence of Interpretation of the Fourth Amendment in Criminal and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Cases

Abstract

This thesis analyses Supreme Court cases on the Fourth Amendment and Foreign Intelligence Supreme Court cases. By summarizing the development of Fourth Amendment case law and providing an overview of electronic surveillance and the creation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, I will show how the warrant clause is applied differently in the FISA court then in normal jurisprudence. I argue that the fall of the trespass doctrine and establishment of the reasonable expectation of privacy test in Katz v. United States, as well as the establishment of the "special needs" exception to the warrant clause in New Jersey v. T.L.O, has resulted in FISC warrants that do not meet the probable cause standards for criminal warrants.