Course Description
This seminar will focus on controversial and cutting-edge issues of Fourth Amendment law and related search and seizure issues arising under the federal Constitution and state constitutional analogues to the Fourth Amendment. The first half of the semester, we will discuss a number of basic areas of search and seizure law, with particular emphasis on contemporary issues of concern, e.g., does or should the Fourth Amendment apply differently to threats of terrorism? Throughout the semester, each student will be working on a seminar paper. In addition to the regular classroom sessions, students must meet periodically with the professor outside of class hours to discuss their progress on their research for this paper. During the second half of the semester, students will make in-class presentations about their seminar paper research topics.