Your home is supposed to be your castle. But what about the land your castle sits on?  We discuss why it is that most private land in America gets no protection from warrantless government surveillance. We are joined by IJ attorney and co-director of IJ’s Project on the Fourth Amendment, Josh Windham.

related report

Good Fences? Good Luck

Released in the Cato Institute’s Regulation magazine, IJ’s study “Good Fences? Good Luck” is the first study to put a number on the amount of private property vulnerable to warrantless searches by federal agents thanks to a legal precedent known as the “open fields doctrine.” It finds that nearly 96% of all private land in the country—about 1.2 billion acres—is essentially open to federal government trespass. 

related podcast

Mr. Thornton’s Woods | Season 3, Ep. 1

In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment’s protections against warrantless searches do not apply to “open fields.” Which means that government agents […]

Listen Now

Recent Episodes

Feds' Surveillance Scandal: "Cash me if you can"

A new financial surveillance dragnet is sweeping up ordinary cash transactions at small businesses near the US-Mexico border. The federal government has placed onerous new requirements on […]

Listen Now