Live at the National Constitution Center

The Fourth Amendment: Past and Present

December 31, 2019

Two leading Fourth Amendment scholars join NCC President Jeffrey Rosen to trace the history and interpretation of the Fourth Amendment from the founding to today. They explain some Fourth Amendment basics like: What is a warrant? What are subpoenas? When and why can they be issued? They also dive into key Supreme Court opinions that interpreted the Fourth Amendment, and give their takes on whether the Court’s Fourth Amendment doctrine has kept up with the digital age.

This program was presented in partnership with the Federal Judicial Center.

FULL PODCAST

PARTICIPANTS

Laura K. Donohue is a Professor of Law at Georgetown Law, Director of Georgetown’s Center on National Security and the Law, and Director of the Center on Privacy and Technology. She writes on foreign intelligence, biological weapons, biometric identification, drones, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, federalism, constitutional law, and legal history. Her most recent book, The Future of Foreign Intelligence: Privacy and Surveillance in a Digital Age, was awarded the 2016 IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law/Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize. She also has written The Cost of Counterterrorism: Power, Politics, and Liberty; and Counterterrorist Law and Emergency Law in the United Kingdom 1922-2000.

Chris Slobogin is the Milton R. Underwood Chair in Law Director for Criminal Justice Program and an Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt Law School, and one of the five most cited criminal law and procedure law professors in the country over the past five years. He is the author of more than 100 articles, books and chapters on topics relating to criminal law and procedure, mental health law and evidence. He has been published by the University of Chicago, Harvard University and Oxford University presses and in journals such as the Chicago Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Northwestern Law Review, Pennsylvania Law Review, Stanford Law Review and Virginia Law Review. His books include Privacy at Risk: The New Government Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment, Juveniles at Risk: A Plea for Preventative Justice, and Proving the Unprovable: The Role of Law, Science, and Speculation in Adjudicating Culpability and Dangerousness among others.

​​​​​​Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” 

Additional Resources


This episode was engineered by Greg Scheckler and Jackie McDermott and produced by Jackie McDermott and Tanaya Tauber.

Stay Connected and Learn More
Questions or comments about the show? Email us at [email protected].

Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.

Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.

Please subscribe to Live at America’s Town Hall and our companion podcast We the People on Apple PodcastsStitcher, or your favorite podcast app.

Loading...

Explore Further

Podcast
Can Tennessee Ban Medical Transitions for Transgender Minors?

Reviewing oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti

Town Hall Video
Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn

Christopher Cox, former U.S. congressman and author of the new book, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn, and Professor Geoffrey…

Blog Post
Revisiting the birthright citizenship question and the Constitution

In recent public comments, President-elect Donald J. Trump repeated past remarks about seeking to revoke the citizenship status of…

Educational Video
The Fourth Amendment (Advanced)

In this session, students will examine the historical context and the drafting of the Fourth Amendment.

Donate

Support Programs Like These

Your generous support enables the National Constitution Center to hear the best arguments on all sides of the constitutional issues at the center of American life. As a private, nonprofit organization, we rely on support from corporations, foundations, and individuals.

Donate Today