A Modest Proposal for Fighting Organized Crime: Stop Taking the Fourth Amendment So Seriously

Professor Arnold H. Loewy presents a tongue-in-cheek analysis of the history of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, focusing on how police officers can improve organized crime investigation by taking advantage of the Supreme Court’s lenient approach to the privacy protections provided by the individual. He reviews how each case promotes a further disregard for such protection and discusses how the allowances granted could apply to police officers tasked with fighting organized crime. He also provides a policy analysis of whether police officers have sufficient motivation to, and insufficient motivation against, following the Supreme Court’s “invitation” to treat the Fourth Amendment lightly.