Katz v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 17, 1967 Decided December 18, 1967
Full case name: Charles Katz v. United States Citations: 389 U.S. 347; 88 S. Ct. 507; 19 L. Ed. 2d 576; 1967 U.S. LEXIS 2 Prior history: Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Holding
The Court extended the Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures to protect individuals in a telephone booth from wiretaps by authorities without a warrant.
Court membership
Chief Justice: Earl Warren Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Abe Fortas, Thurgood Marshall
Case opinions
Majority by: Stewart Joined by: Warren, Fortas Concurrence by: Douglas Joined by: Brennan Concurrence by: Harlan Concurrence by: White Dissent by: Black Marshall took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. IV

Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967) was a United States Supreme Court decision that extended the Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures to protect individuals in a telephone booth from wiretaps by authorities without a warrant. Image File history File links Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court. ... The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of the United States federal government. ... Amendment IV (the Fourth Amendment) to the United States Constitution is one of the provisions included in the Bill of Rights. ... Telephone tapping or Wire tapping/ Wiretapping (in US) describes the monitoring of telephone conversations by a third party, often by covert means. ... In law, a warrant can mean any authorization. ... Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ... Hugo Black Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). ... William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ... John Marshall Harlan II (May 20, 1899 – December 29, 1971) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. ... William J. Brennan, official portrait, 1976. ... Justice Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. ... Byron White, official portrait. ... Abe Fortas (June 19, 1910–April 5, 1982) was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice. ... Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Amendment VI (the Sixth Amendment) of the United States Constitution codifies rights related to criminal prosecutions in federal courts. ... // Case citation is the system used in common law countries such as the United States, England and Wales, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and India to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters or law reports. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of the United States federal government. ... Amendment IV (the Fourth Amendment) to the United States Constitution is one of the provisions included in the Bill of Rights. ... Telephone tapping or Wire tapping/ Wiretapping (in US) describes the monitoring of telephone conversations by a third party, often by covert means. ... In law, a warrant can mean any authorization. ...

Facts

Charles Katz was convicted in California of illegal gambling. He had used a public pay phone booth in Los Angeles to place bets in Miami and Boston. Unbeknownst to him, the FBI had attached an electronic eavesdropping device to the phone which recorded the conversation. Katz was convicted based on recordings of his end of the conversations. He challenged his conviction, arguing that the recordings could not be used as evidence against him. The Court of Appeals sided with the FBI because there was not a physical intrusion into the phone booth itself. The Court granted certiorari. Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Gambling or Gaming [1] has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. ... This article is about the city in Florida. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... This law-related article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Issue(s) before the Court

• Does the Fourth Amendment protect the private conversations of an individual made in a telephone booth?
• Is a physical intrusion by government officials required to violate a defendant's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure, or is an unwarranted electronic tap on the defendant's phone enough of an act to violate his/her rights?
• Is the government required to obtain a search warrant before executing a wiretap or is a determination by the federal agents that probable cause exists enough?

Holding

• So long as an individual can justifiably expect that his conversation would remain private, his/her conversation is protected from "unreasonable search and seizure" by the Fourth Amendment.
• The Fourth Amendment protects people, not just places. Therefore, the rights of an individual cannot be violated, regardless of whether or not there is physical intrusion into any given area.
• A warrant is required before the government can execute a wiretap, and the warrant must be sufficiently limited in scope and duration.

Decision and rationale

In the decision the Supreme Court sided with Katz, holding that the Fourth Amendment protects his right to privacy, wherever he may be. Justice Stewart wrote, "No less than an individual in a business office, in a friend's apartment, or in a taxicab, a person in a telephone booth may rely upon the protection of the Fourth Amendment." The thrust of the Court's argument was that the Amendment protects people and not just places. This ruling also extended the protection of the Fourth Amendment to include private conversation in addition to corporal objects. Justice Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. ... Amendment IV (the Fourth Amendment) to the United States Constitution is one of the provisions included in the Bill of Rights. ...

• "The Government's activities in electronically listening to and recording the petitioner's words violate the privacy upon which he justifiably relied while using the telephone booth and thus constituted a 'search and seizure' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment."
• "The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places."

Justice Harlan's concurrence

In his concurrence, Justice Harlan formulated a two-part test for determining whether police activity constitutes a search. Harlan's test, not the majority's test, is the most common formulation cited by courts. Something is a search within the meaning of the Fourth amendment if (1) the individual "ha[s] exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy," and (2) society is prepared to recognize that this expectation is (objectively) reasonable. Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Justice Black's dissent

In his dissent, Justice Hugo Black argued that the Fourth Amendment, as a whole, was only meant to protect "things" from physical search and seizure; it was not meant to protect personal privacy. Additionally, Black argued that the modern act of wiretapping was analogous to the act of eavesdropping, which was around even when the Bill of Rights was drafted. Black concluded that if the drafters of the Fourth Amendment had meant for it to protect against eavesdropping they would have included the proper language. Hugo Black Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). ...

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases
• Olmstead v. United States 277 U.S. 438 (1928)

This is a chronological list of notable cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Olmstead v. ...

External links

• Full text of the decision courtesy of Findlaw.com