Question

In Katz v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled on whether police could tap a public phone without a warrant. Identify one way in which the case is legally significant

Answer 1

Answer:

In Katz v. USA (1967), the most important Fourth Amendment case, the defendant was sentenced by a federal court for illegal gambling. He organized them using a long-distance telephone, which was the crime against federal law. The judge admitted evidence to the trial in the form of telephone recordings of the accused received by the FBI agents. They installed eavesdropping equipment outside the telephone booth with which the accused called while committing a crime. The Supreme Court rejected the conviction.

Despite the fact that in the Katz case, the Court emphasized the protection of a person’s private life, rather than premises, it made one reservation: “The Fourth Amendment should not be construed as a basis for the adoption of a common “right to privacy.”

The decision in the Katz case is of great importance also for another reason. Judge Harlan, who joined the majority opinion, defined the criteria subsequently used by the courts to establish a violation or non-violation of the Fourth Amendment as a result of specific actions by the authorities. This criterion is called “reasonable expectation of privacy.” The criterion is based on two premises: first, a person must show a valid (subjective) expectation of respect for the right to privacy; secondly, this expectation must be of such a kind that society can recognize it as "reasonable."

Explanation: