About the Center Training and Webinars Reports and Publications Amicus Briefs Litigation Support

 

Launched in April 2018, the Fourth Amendment Center seeks to build a robust legal infrastructure to challenge outdated legal doctrines that undermine privacy rights in the digital age. To this end, the Center is available to provide litigation assistance in cases raising new Fourth Amendment concerns, including:

Device Search Reverse Search Warrants Facial Recognition Digital Location Tracking Predictive Policing Body Cameras Government Hacking

Defense lawyers with cases involving any of these issues are encouraged to contact the Center. The Center is available to provide consultations and litigation resources as well as direct assistance in support of a defendant’s Fourth Amendment claims. Specifically, the Center may assist in motion practice, preparation for suppression hearings, appellate strategy, brief writing, and oral argument. The Center also provides group trainings for defense lawyers around the country and upon request.

 

Learn more about the Center's history and staff.

 

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Featured

Register Now: Unpacking Chatrie v. US: Data, Privacy, AI and the Fourth Amendment

The Chatrie decision represents the Court's first word on whether people have a privacy interest in their location history data, even if that data is stored by a technology company, regardless of how short the timeframe is for the government request. The opinion will shape how courts, practitioners, and technologists think about privacy rights in electronic data for years to come — and, critically, what that means for AI technology and civil liberties.

 

Read Now: Chatrie v. United States Supreme Court Decision

The United States Supreme Court has issued its opinion in Chatrie v. United States, which NACDL's Fourth Amendment Center has been litigating since it's inceptrion in 2019. This is a landmark case challenging the constitutionality of geofence warrants that allow police to sweep up Google “Location History” data from anyone near a crime scene in search of a suspect. The Court held that individuals retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in their digital location data, even for short periods, and even though a third party holds that data in the cloud. While the Court established that a Fourth Amendment search occurred, it did not determine whether this specific geofence warrant violated the Fourth Amendment’s probable cause and particularity requirements, remanding the case back to the Fourth Circuit for further proceedings.

 

Read Now: Omnibus Tech Discovery Checklist

A cross between an issue spotter and a sample discovery demand, this is an all-in-one, cover-your-bases initial discovery checklist for many of the most commonly used categories of technology that you will see in your cases. It is intended to provide a sufficient list for each category to get you on the right track with any of these types of technology and also serve as a potential issue-spotting guide to help you identify what might be at issue in your case

 

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Reports

  

  

  

Find the rest of our reports and primers here.

 

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CLE Training and Webinar Library

Code, Culpability, and Constitutional Law: AI in the Criminal Legal System

Artifical intelligence now influences nearly every stage of the criminal process—from data driven policing and digital forensics to sentencing algorithms. Yet the opacity of these tools raises urgent questions about fairness, accountability, and the right to a transparent defense. This symposium explores the ethical and evidentiary implications of AI in criminal law, focusing on algorithmic bias, trade secrets, police surveillance, and the tension between technological innovation and constitutional protections.

 

Phones, Files, and the Fourth: Border Searches and the Attorney-Client Privilege

This webinar is presented by Esha Bhandari, Deputy Director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, and Amir Makled, a trial lawyer who specializes in civil rights, personal injury, and criminal defense work. 

 

Artificial Justice: AI, Tech, and Criminal Defense

NACDL’s Fourth Amendment Center and the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law hosted a conference and discussed the tools law enforcement use, how to challenge that evidence, and what’s on the horizon. View the recordings below to equip yourself with the knowledge you need to defend clients in an increasingly digital world.  

 

Defense Strategies for Getting (and Challenging) Social Media Evidence

 

Tiny Constables: Automatic License Plate Readers and the Fourth Amendment

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Litigation Support

 

Need help with a case?

 

The Center is available to provide consultations and litigation resources as well as direct assistance in support of a defendant’s Fourth Amendment claims. Specifically, the Center may assist in motion practice, preparation for suppression hearings, appellate strategy, brief writing, and oral argument. The Center also provides group trainings for defense lawyers around the country and upon request.

To request assistance or additional information, contact 4AC@nacdl.org.