I turned in my assignment to Ms. Berrie about the importance of the 4th amendment in general and specifically with her work in the Public Defenders office. Here is what I learned…
In 1791, one of the most important amendments to the Constitution that protects the rights of the accused was ratified. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens of the United States from “unreasonable searches and seizures”. There are limits to the Fourth Amendment. It only applies if a person has a “legitimate expectation of privacy”. To judge this the courts, use a “test” to decipher if the person expected some degree of privacy and if the expectation is objectively reasonable. . The Fourth Amendment also does not apply to searches from people outside of the government who are not acting on the government’s behalf. For example, if something is stolen from a store, a private security guard can search the bag and anything they find is admissible in court. Supreme Court Cases addressing the 4th amendment includes Mapp v Ohio which assist in limiting the government’s power through the exclusionary rule. Arizona v Gant establishes to some degree what a reasonable cause is. Glove v Kansas describes the limitations of the Fourth Amendment. For an attorney on defense, the Fourth Amendment is vital in order to protect a client from the government and to save them from being convicted of an unreasonable search. The Fourth Amendment emphasizes the idea that “each man’s home is his castle” and therefore grants United States citizens the right to privacy.