LOSING THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY

ON Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court again chopped a hunk out of what
remains of the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unreasonable
searches and seizures. A 6-3 majority ruled that a short-term visitor
to a home or apartment doesn't have a reasonable expectation of
privacy -- meaning, of course, that neither does the homeowner or renter.

A police officer was told by an informant that two men were measuring
drugs in a garden apartment. The officer managed to get a peek in the
window through a gap in the blinds, saw what he believed to be two men
bagging cocaine, left and came back with a warrant to search the premises.

According to the Minnesota Supreme Court which had the case first, the
officer climbed over bushes, crouched down outside a window and peered
into the apartment through a small gap in the blinds. The state
supreme court determined that the officer's actions violated the
Fourth Amendment and threw out the conviction.

Majority opinion

The nation's highest court disagreed. Chief Justice William Rehnquist
wrote the opinion for the majority. Because the two men engaged in
measuring out cocaine were not overnight guests of the woman who
leased the apartment, they cannot have an expectation of privacy, he
wrote.

While we understand the government's concern about illegal drugs, this
logic slices the law pretty thin. Transparently thin. This is clearly
jurisprudence aimed at a conclusion. The high court was not going to
let these men free, no matter how the Fourth Amendment's protections
had to be twisted.

If the renter had invited a lover over for an afternoon delight, would
there be no reasonable expectation of privacy? Does that mean that
unless the renter asked the lover to stay overnight, the renter would
not be secure from unreasonable searches? What if you invite your
friends into your home to plan a political campaign to beat an
incumbent city councilman, could the police peek in your windows to
spy on what the group was planning?

In trashing a visitor's rightful expectation of privacy from the
outside world, the court trashed the homeowner's right too. This
decision creates bad law, law that puts all of us in jeopardy.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady