A Fourth Amendment-Based
High School Civics Curriculum
High School Civics Curriculum
|
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
- The Fourth Amendment of The Constitution |
This civics curriculum appeals to the interests of high school juniors and seniors by using their cell phones and vehicles as the context for understanding how their government affects them.
The curriculum is designed to be accessible to students with an eighth grade knowledge of American history. After introducing the students to the origin of the Fourth Amendment and some basic legal knowledge, we move on to discussing how Fourth Amendment law impacts vehicle and cell phone searches. Students will understand what their rights are if they, their vehicle or their cell phone are searched and where these rights came from through court cases and legal statutes.
Their education about the traditional interpretation of the Fourth Amendment will equip them to apply their critical thinking skills. Students develop criteria to evaluate whether reverse warrants (defined below) threaten Fourth Amendment rights. They create a framework to ensure that searches of cell phone data that are necessary to solve serious crimes are compliant with the Fourth Amendment's requirements for a search warrant. This means having probable cause that a crime was committed, that particular evidence of the crime committed will be found in the place to be searched, and any data outside the scope of the search will be protected.
Students will learn enough background case law to frame a Supreme Court decision about cell phone searches on their own and to write a mock application for a reverse search warrant. They will learn how students can play an important in the legislative process at all levels through their testimony on issues relevant to them. As described below (see Pedagogy) students will collaborate throughout the course honing the very skills that they need for civic engagement.
The curriculum is designed to be accessible to students with an eighth grade knowledge of American history. After introducing the students to the origin of the Fourth Amendment and some basic legal knowledge, we move on to discussing how Fourth Amendment law impacts vehicle and cell phone searches. Students will understand what their rights are if they, their vehicle or their cell phone are searched and where these rights came from through court cases and legal statutes.
Their education about the traditional interpretation of the Fourth Amendment will equip them to apply their critical thinking skills. Students develop criteria to evaluate whether reverse warrants (defined below) threaten Fourth Amendment rights. They create a framework to ensure that searches of cell phone data that are necessary to solve serious crimes are compliant with the Fourth Amendment's requirements for a search warrant. This means having probable cause that a crime was committed, that particular evidence of the crime committed will be found in the place to be searched, and any data outside the scope of the search will be protected.
Students will learn enough background case law to frame a Supreme Court decision about cell phone searches on their own and to write a mock application for a reverse search warrant. They will learn how students can play an important in the legislative process at all levels through their testimony on issues relevant to them. As described below (see Pedagogy) students will collaborate throughout the course honing the very skills that they need for civic engagement.
Where is your private information and what does it reveal?
|
Searches Evolved with Technology
General Warrants King George III's agents used general warrants to search the home of his critics in Parliament John Entick, a writer and critic of the king, sued the agents. In 1763, the judge ruled that a search had to be based upon “probable cause,” and that only something specifically involved in a crime could be seized. Using general warrants, called Writs of Assistance, tax agents of King George III regularly and randomly searched the homes and shops of residents of the Massachusetts Bay colony. James Otis sued the king's agents and his argument became the basis of our Fourth Amendment. |
|
Reverse Search Warrants
In the digital age, law enforcement and other government agencies have access to what are effectively general warrants: they are called reverse search warrants. A reverse search warrant allows law enforcement, with less evidence than is required by a court for a specific probable cause warrant, to ask a technology company to provide previously collected information in order to help them identify a suspect in a crime. |
|
|
Geofence Searches, Tower Dumps and Stingrays
Geofence searches, tower dumps and stingrays identify all cell phones present at a specific location in a certain time frame. Keyword Searches Keyword searches reveal any device at a specific location that searched for the entered keywords in a certain time frame. |
|
Learning Outcomes - Students will apply historical legal principles for searches and seizures as they develop guidelines for modern-day private data searches - After studying foundational cases and data storage in modern electronic devices, students will construct a mock Supreme Court opinion on cell phone searches - Students will create mock applications for reverse search warrants. |
Pedagogy - Modeling civic engagement in the learning process - Maximizing participation through directed group discussions, gallery walks, silent conversations, journaling, and presentations - Highlights Fourth Amendment topics of special interest to teens |
Course Content
1. Basic legal vocabulary, court trials and role of the appeals process in remedying injustice and establishing case law
2. The origin of the Fourth Amendment, state and federal courts in English law, U.S. history, and the Constitution
3. Habeas Corpus, Due Process, Miranda rights, and the Exclusionary Rule
4. Reasonableness and Probable Cause in searches and seizures established through court orders and warrants
5. Impact of data retained in modern technologies on Fourth Amendment rights
6. Landmark cases establishing the Katz Test, the Third Party Doctrine, the Chimel Rule, and the warrant requirements for cell phone content and Cell Site Location Information
7. Reverse Searches: tower dumps, geofences, keyword searches
8. Advocacy at the state and federal level for laws to protect rights.
1. Basic legal vocabulary, court trials and role of the appeals process in remedying injustice and establishing case law
2. The origin of the Fourth Amendment, state and federal courts in English law, U.S. history, and the Constitution
3. Habeas Corpus, Due Process, Miranda rights, and the Exclusionary Rule
4. Reasonableness and Probable Cause in searches and seizures established through court orders and warrants
5. Impact of data retained in modern technologies on Fourth Amendment rights
6. Landmark cases establishing the Katz Test, the Third Party Doctrine, the Chimel Rule, and the warrant requirements for cell phone content and Cell Site Location Information
7. Reverse Searches: tower dumps, geofences, keyword searches
8. Advocacy at the state and federal level for laws to protect rights.
|
Relating The Fourth Amendment To The Present Students watch the interrogation of a teen by police which led to his false conviction and three year prison sentence. They learn that his plight inspired a movement that resulted in a 2020 California law that requires minors to have an attorney present during interrogation. In a 2021 report by Bruce Lashan, students see firsthand the impact of a reverse search warrant served on a woman who had been near the Capitol on January 6. Here is the full video. Students write an application for a search warrant based upon the facts of the case in which police used a keyword search to help identify the arsonist who targeted a witness in the trial against R. Kelly. |
|
