I want to bring your attention to one of the most troubling 4th Amendment decisions that I have ever run into.  Keep in mind that I have been practicing law for over 20 years so I have seen it all.  But this case might be the most outrageous violation of the 4th Amendment’s protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.  The case is United States of America v. Cindy Lee Westhoven, No. 13-2065.  The case is out of the 10th Circuit.  On April 18, 2012, a Border Patrol Agent was patrolling Highway 80 in New Mexico, which is about 45 miles from the Mexico border.  He observed Westhoven drive her Ford F-150 in the opposite direction of the highway he was travelling on.  The agent testified that this highway is frequently used to transport illegal aliens.  As Westhoven drove past him, the agent testified that Westhoven had a “stiff posture” and her arms were “straight and locked out” at a “ten-and-two position on the steering wheel.”  The truck had tinted windows and an Arizona licen...

In an interesting story, a Massachusetts woman was arrested by the police and charged with illegal wiretapping after she was caught secretly recording her own arrest. Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to record the police unless if it’s in a public place and only if the police know of the recording.  In this case the police were called to a building for a tenant who was loud and causing a disturbance. The police encountered this woman and arrested her. As they were arresting her they discovered that she had placed her phone in her purse and it was recording the arrest.  After the cell phone was discovered the woman admitted that she placed it in her purse to record her arrest.  In 2011 a court in Massachusetts who filmed someone else’s arrest in public had her constitutional rights violated because it was obvious to the police that they were being filmed. Before you criticize Massachusetts, Illinois had a similar law on the books until March 20, 2014, when the Illinois Supreme ...