We dedicated ourselves to a powerful idea - organic law rather than naked power. There seems to be universal acceptance of that idea in the nation.
Potter StewartRead
For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The Fourth Amendment protects individuals' privacy, not just physical spaces.
This quote from Potter Stewart highlights the essence of the Fourth Amendment, emphasizing that it safeguards people's rights to privacy regardless of location. It suggests that individuals have the right to protect certain private information, even if it is within a public space, reinforcing the importance of personal privacy over mere physical environments.
Themes
Fourth AmendmentPrivacyPublicProtectionIndividual Rights
In practice
Example use cases
In a legal debate about privacy rights, this quote may illustrate the need to safeguard personal information against unwarranted intrusion.
More from Potter Stewart
All quotes →Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.
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A person's mere propinquity to others independently suspected of criminal activity does not give rise to probable cause to search that person.
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It must always be remembered that what the Constitution forbids is not all searches and seizures, but unreasonable searches and seizures.
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Swift justice demands more than just swiftness.
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The 4th Amendment and the personal rights it secures have a long history. At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.
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