Katz v. U.S.: 40 Years Later - From Warrantless Wiretaps to the War on Terror

March 9, 2007

Schedule

9:00 – 9:15 AM: Coffee and Welcome by Dean Rex Perschbacher

9:30 -11:30 AM: Katz in Context: Privacy, Policing Homosexuality and Enforcing Social Norms

The opening panel will situate the Katz decision within a robust framework.  The five panelists will provide an expansive vision of the realities that shaped the Katz decision and that continue to define and limit its scope.

Moderator: Jennifer M. Chacón (U.C. Davis)
Speakers: Aya Gruber, Christian Halliburton, Erik Luna, Jonathan Simon & David Sklansky

11:45 -12:45 PM: Lunch

12:45 - 2:30 PM: Katz: Rights and Remedies

Forty years after the Supreme Court determined that the Fourth Amendment protected “people, not places,” this panel will assess the strength of that protection.  The panelists will examine the ways in which contemporary courts define the limits of an individual’s “reasonable expectation of privacy” and propose alternative frameworks for conducting the appropriate legal analysis.  They will also examine the evolution of remedies available for searches found to be unreasonable under Katz.

Moderator: Floyd F. Feeney (U.C. Davis)
Speakers: Raquel Aldana, Timothy Casey, Sharon Davies & Anil Kalhan

2:45 - 4:15 PM: Katz in the Age of International Crime and Terrorism

Moderator: Diane Marie Amann (U.C. Davis)
Speakers: Tracey Maclin & Glenn Sulmasy/John Yoo (co-presenting)

In his concurrence in Katz, Justice White left open the possibility that in cases of national security, the President or Attorney General could authorize warrantless wiretaps.  In recent years, events such as the warrantless wiretapping program carried out by the National Security Agency after September 11, 2001, have brought into sharp focus the question of how Katz’ protection should be interpreted in cases involving national security.  Our final panel explores these questions, along with the related question of the degree to which citizenship status limits the protections afforded by Katz.

4:15 - 4:30 PM: Closing Remarks