Are you a landowner? Have you seen government officials snooping around your private property without permission?

We want to hear from you!

Government officials—from police, to game wardens, to farm inspectors, to zoning officials—often think they can trespass on your private land due to a legal rule called the “open fields doctrine.” That rule, which stems from a 1924 Supreme Court decision, essentially says that government officials do not need a warrant to enter private land under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

However, many state constitutions provide greater protection for individual rights than the Fourth Amendment—potentially including your state!

Fill out the form below and IJ attorneys will review your potential case.

For decades, a state law empowered Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers to enter private land and spy on its owners without a warrant. But in March 2022, Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth (depicted) teamed up with IJ to persuade a state court to declare that law “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unenforceable.”


The Institute for Justice is a public interest law firm that fights government abuse.

We represent all of our clients free of charge.

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