2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the “open fields doctrine,” the judge-made exception to the Fourth Amendment. With it government officials, including the police, can trespass on 96% of private land in the United States without committing a “search.” Created by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the Prohibition-era case Hester v. United States, the doctrine was turbo-charged in 1984 at the height of the War on Drugs, and openly runs wild today. Under it, any land outside of a structure and a home’s ambiguous “curtilage” receives zero protection under the Fourth Amendment, allowing the government to roam with no constitutional restraints.
Yet, things might be changing. Several states have rejected the doctrine under their own constitutions and recent developments at the Supreme Court itself could be harbingers for a reassessment.
To observe this century and the possibility that the next 100 years will be different, the Institute for Justice invites you to a conference examining the history of the doctrine and its future. We are bringing together IJ attorneys who have litigated open fields matters with several nationally recognized Fourth Amendment scholars to discuss this often-overlooked exception to Americans’ “right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Speakers will include: Professor Laura Donohue (Georgetown Law) (keynote speaker), Professor Maureen Brady (Harvard Law School), Professor Morgan Cloud (Emory University School of Law), Professor Daniel Epps (Washington University School of Law), Professor Luke Milligan (Louis D. Brandeis School of Law), Professor James Y. Stern (William & Mary Law School), and Josh Windham (IJ attorney and Elfie Gallun Fellow in Freedom and the Constitution).
You are invited to attend the conference’s talks and panels as well at grab a free lunch and stay for the reception! The conference begins at lunchtime on Friday, May 10, 2024 at IJ’s headquarters at 901 N. Glebe Road in Arlington, Virginia.
Conference Speakers
Attorney and Elfie Gallun Fellow in Freedom and the Constitution, Institute for Justice
Professor of Law, Georgetown Law; Director, Georgetown Center on Law and National Security; Director, Georgetown Center on Privacy & Technology
Founder of Massachusetts Defender LLC and an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School
Thank you for your interest in registering for A Century of Government Trespassing: The Open Fields Doctrine at 100 Years. Registration has now closed for this event. If you have any questions, or would like to be added to our waitlist, please email [email protected]