State v. Brossart: Adapting the Fourth Amendment for a Future With Drones
Thomas Bryan · Scholarship at Catholic Law (Catholic University of America) · 2014
Imagine a situation in which law enforcement officials unexpectedly confront a father and son. 1 The confrontation quickly escalates into an armed struggle leading to the father's arrest and the detainment of his adult son. 2 After the father's arrest, police go to the family's home and request admittance to the defendant's properties.3 The three adult sons present in the home deny the request.4 Without consent and unbeknownst to the family inside, the authorities then launch an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to survey the father's properties in an effort to gather information.5 The intelligence gathered by this drone is later used to arrest and prosecute five family members.6 The facts above do not refer to an anti-terrorism-related arrest in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Yemen.7 Rather, they refer to events that took place in rural North + J.D.