Also known as: surveillances · surveil · surveils · surveilled · surveilling · electronic surveillance · wiretap
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An act of monitoring or observing a person, place, or activity, often covertly or through electronic means. Under the Fourth Amendment, such monitoring constitutes a search when it intrudes on a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Scott Summers regularly met a lobbyist in a credentialed lounge separated from the corridor by a decorative screen. State investigators installed a concealed audio recorder under the table without a warrant. The court holds that the recording intruded on a reasonable expectation of privacy and therefore required judicial approval before use.
Sean Steele was suspected of bribery. Officers obtained a wiretap order that named Steele but failed to describe the specific conversations to be intercepted or set a termination date. The court suppresses the recordings because the warrant lacked the required particularity and procedural limits.
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Electronic surveillance requires a warrant when it intrudes on a reasonable expectation of privacy. No warrant is needed for conversations exposed to the public or where the speaker makes no effort to keep them private.
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A valid wiretap warrant must identify the suspected persons, describe the conversations to be intercepted, establish probable cause for a specific crime, limit the duration, and require a prompt return to the court detailing the interceptions.
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A lounge accessible only to credentialed personnel and separated by a screen can support a reasonable expectation of privacy. The court weighs access limits and visual barriers against the possibility that many credentialed individuals could still enter.
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A private place is one where a person may reasonably expect to be safe from casual or hostile intrusion or surveillance. It excludes areas open to the public or a substantial group of people.
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