吃瓜直播

鈥淩everse searches鈥� are a novel surveillance technique where the police can obtain records reflecting everyone who used a search engine to look up a particular word or phrase. In this case, the lower court approved the police using a reverse search, ruling that people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy for any query they enter into a search engine. The 吃瓜直播鈥檚 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project and State Supreme Court Initiative along with the 吃瓜直播 of Pennsylvania filed an amicus brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court urging the court to reverse the lower court鈥檚 decision and hold that search history data is protected by the state and federal Constitution.

In this case, the Virginia Supreme Court is considering whether the U.S. Constitution and/or the Virginia Constitution require the exclusionary rule鈥攚hich protects people from unconstitutional searches and seizures鈥攖o apply in civil zoning enforcement actions. The Institute for Justice, along with The 吃瓜直播 of Virginia and the Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project and the State Supreme Court Initiative at the 吃瓜直播, submitted an amicus brief arguing that the exclusionary rule should apply in civil actions to protect Virginians鈥� search and seizure rights.

In this case, the Iowa Supreme Court considered when rap lyrics are admissible evidence in criminal trials. The State sought further review of a court of appeals decision which reversed the defendant's criminal convictions and remanded for a trial based on errors in the admission of evidence. Together with the Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project and the 吃瓜直播 of Iowa, the State Supreme Court Initiative filed an amicus brief arguing that such evidence should usually be excluded because it is rarely probative and yet creates a high risk of prejudice to the defendant. The Iowa Supreme Court ultimately reversed the Court of Appeals decision, but for narrow and fact-specific reasons. And the Iowa Supreme Court acknowledged that, in cases not involving the peculiar facts of Canady's case, other courts had expressed concerns about the risk that a jury will unfairly use rap lyrics and music as evidence of a defendant's guilt.

This case at the Georgia Supreme Court involves the 鈥渋ndependent source鈥� doctrine, an exception to the exclusionary rule providing that evidence that is acquired through means genuinely independent of a prior unlawful search or seizure may be accepted by the court. The 吃瓜直播鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the 吃瓜直播 of Georgia, filed an amicus brief arguing that the independent source doctrine does not apply in this case because the police relied on information acquired from a prior, illegal search when they applied for a warrant to search the defendant鈥檚 cell phone. The Court鈥檚 opinion vacated Tatum鈥檚 conviction and remanded to allow the trial court to determine whether the state鈥檚 decision to seek the search warrant was 鈥減rompted鈥� by the prior unlawful search.