KATZ VS US HELD
389 U.S. 347 (1967)
UNLAWFUL SEARCHES AND SEIZURES
FACTS
1. Acting on a suspicion that Charles Katz was transmitting
gambling information over the phone to clients in other states,
Federal agents attached an eavesdropping device to the outside
of a public phone booth used by Katz.
2. Based on recordings of his end of the conversations, Katz
was convicted under an eight-count indictment for the illegal
transmission of wagering information from Los Angeles to
Boston and Miami.
3. On appeal, Katz challenged his conviction arguing that the
recordings could not be used as evidence against him. The
Court of Appeals rejected this point, noting the absence of a
physical intrusion into the phone booth itself. The Court
granted certiorari.
ISSUE
WON the right against unreasonable searches and seizures
protects telephone conversations conducted in a phone booth
YES.
The petitioner strenuously asserted that the phone booth was a
constitutionally protected area. However, the Fourth
Amendment protects persons and not places from unreasonable
intrusion. Even in a public place, a person may have a
reasonable expectation of privacy in his person. Although the
petitioner did not seek to hide his self from public view when
he entered the telephone booth, he did seek to keep out the
uninvited ear. He did not relinquish his right to do so simply
because he went to a place where he could be seen. A
person who enters into a telephone booth may expect the
protection of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution as
he assumes that the words he utters into the telephone will
not be broadcast to the world. Once this is acknowledged, it
is clear that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution protects
persons and not areas from unreasonable searches and seizures.
The Government’s activities in electronically listening to and
recording the petitioner’s telephone conversations constituted a
search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment and absent a
search warrant predicated upon sufficient probable cause, all
evidence obtained is inadmissible.