Polk Law Blog

So says a former professor of mine at George Washington University Law School, Orin Kerr (bio), in his post at the Volokh Conspiracy, a libertarian-leaning legal blog.

A bit of background for the civics challenged:

The Fourth Amendment is the one that protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures.

The case is from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. For those not in the know, the federal court system divides the country into eleven districts, called “circuits.” Each circuit is serviced by a single appeals court. So if you don’t like the decision you get in a trial court in Tampa or Orlando, your appeal would be heard by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Atlanta.

The circuit court of appeals is one level below the Supreme Court of the United States.  Its decisions are binding in the Eleventh Circuit which includes Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

Prof. Kerr believes the case was wrongly decided. As an aside, he was one of my favorite professors in law school and he has a strong scholarly interest in computer crime. Very sharp guy.