Some excellent writing has come out of late, and I wanted to shine some light on it. We law profs get inundated with so much material (via books, articles, SSRN, email, magazines, etc) that it can be quite overwhelming. But here are two recent things that stood out:
Christopher Slobogin, Is the Fourth Amendment Relevant in a Technological Age?
A forthcoming chapter in The Future of the Constitution, this piece discusses how, " with the introduction of devices that can see through walls and clothes, monitor public thoroughfares twenty-four hours a day, and access millions of records in seconds, police are relying much more heavily on what might be called "virtual searches," investigative techniques that do not require physical access to premises, people, papers or effects and that can often be carried out covertly from far away. The Supreme Court’s current Fourth Amendment jurisprudence - specifically, its "knowing exposure," "general public use," "contraband-specific," "assumption of risk" and "special needs" doctrines - has both failed to anticipate this development and continued to ignore it. This article describes this jurisprudence and how it can foster law enforcement abuse, mission creep, mistaken seizures and physical searches, and an oppressive atmosphere even for the innocent. It then outlines a more technologically-sensitive Fourth Amendment framework."
The Green Bag 2010 Almanac and Reader of Exemplary Legal Writing
Some great winners this year, including excerpts from Langbein, Lerner and Smith's History of the Common Law, Nina Totenberg's Martin Ginsburg's Legacy, and lots of writing and cartoons from the great Thomas Nash.
Also, it's Mozart's 254th birthday today! Perhaps listening to his music will make my writing exemplary as well....
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