View this email in your browser
 

For Immediate Release: February 25, 2022

 

Supreme Court Sees Nothing Wrong with Prolonged, Warrantless Spying by Police Using Hidden Cameras

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to stop police from using hidden cameras to secretly and warrantlessly record and monitor a person’s activities outside their home over an extended period of time.

In refusing to hear an appeal in Travis Tuggle v. U.S., the Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling which concluded that no “search” in violation of the Fourth Amendment had occurred because the private activity recorded by the hidden surveillance cameras took place in public view. The Rutherford Institute and the Cato Institute had filed an amicus brief in Tuggle warning that without adequate safeguards in place, there would be no turning back from the kinds of intrusions posed by such expansive, ever-watching surveillance technology capable of revealing intimate details of a person’s life.

Jim Harper with TechLaw at the University of Arizona College of Law assisted The Rutherford Institute and the Cato Institute in advancing the Fourth Amendment privacy arguments in Tuggle.

“Unfortunately, we are steadily approaching a future where nothing is safe from the prying eyes of government,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “As the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recognized, ‘Foreseeable expansion in technological capabilities and the pervasive use of ever-watching surveillance will reduce Americans’ anonymity, transforming what once seemed like science fiction into fact.’”

MAKE THE GOVERNMENT PLAY BY THE RULES OF THE CONSTITUTION: SUPPORT THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

As part of “Operation Frozen Tundra,” a drug-trafficking investigation conducted by multiple federal agencies in central Illinois, police mounted three hidden surveillance cameras on utility poles near Travis Tuggle’s home starting in August 2014. Tuggle lived in a residential neighborhood with lightly traveled roads, which made physical surveillance difficult for officers. The agents used live feeds from the three video cameras to monitor Tuggle’s activities and visitors in his yard and driveway, and stored the data on a server at the FBI’s office. The cameras were equipped with technology to enable better pictures at night, and agents could remotely operate the cameras to zoom, pan, and tilt the views. From the time of installing the first camera, agents surveilled Tuggle’s residence around the clock for over a year and a half without ever obtaining a search warrant to do so. The evidence from the videos led to Tuggle being charged and convicted of intending to distribute methamphetamine.

Although Tuggle challenged the warrantless video-surveillance as a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, the government argued that Tuggle did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy from the pole cameras, regardless of the length of time. The district court sided with the government, ruling that the use of the cameras did not constitute a “search.” Although the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals warned against the dangers of “a constellation of ubiquitous public and private cameras accessible to the government that catalog the movements and activities of all Americans,” it affirmed the lower court’s ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court’s subsequent refusal to hear the appeal leaves the lower court’s ruling in place.

The amicus brief in Tuggle v. U.S. is available at www.rutherford.org. Jim Harper with TechLaw at the University of Arizona College of Law assisted The Rutherford Institute and the Cato Institute in advancing the Fourth Amendment privacy arguments in Tuggle.

The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.

Source: https://bit.ly/3pil9rJ

Share Share
Tweet Tweet
Forward Forward
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION

To donate via PayPal, please click below:

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Twitter
YouTube YouTube
CONTACT INFORMATION
Nisha Whitehead
(434) 978-3888 ext. 604
[email protected]

THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE
Post Office Box 7482
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone: (434) 978-3888
www.rutherford.org

Copyright © 2022 The Rutherford Institute, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because of your interest in the work of The Rutherford Institute. Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. To discontinue your membership electronically, or if you feel you are receiving this message in error, please follow the link below.

Under the regulations of the United States Internal Revenue Service, The Rutherford Institute is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit organization. Donations to support The Rutherford Institute’s legal and educational work help to safeguard the constitutional rights of all Americans. Donations are tax-deductible. In compliance with general industry standards of a nonprofit organization, the Institute is audited annually by an independent accounting firm.

unsubscribe from this list

update subscription preferences