What does the Fourth Amendment, an 18th-century rule, mean in a 21st-century world?
This question is the basis for Volume 72 of the Mississippi Law Journal, published in fall 2002. The journal's six articles are devoted exclusively to analysis of the symposium on "The Effect of Technology on Fourth Amendment Analysis and Individual Rights," which was hosted at the Law School in April 2002.

"This journal compiles the work of some of the finest legal scholars in the nation," says symposium organizer Thomas K. Clancy, director of the National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law. "Feedback already has been phenomenal, and it promises to have a lasting impact on judges, lawyers, and scholars working in the Fourth Amendment area."

The seven professors who brought different perspectives to the daylong symposium discussion were John Burkoff of the University of Pittsburgh, Morgan Cloud of Emory University, Tracey Maclin of Boston University, David Sklansky of the University of California at Los Angeles, Christopher Slobogin of the University of Florida, James Tomkovicz of the University of Iowa, and Kathryn Urbonya of the College of William and Mary.

The event was attended by more than 120 people. The day ended with the visiting professors' holding an hourlong panel discussion moderated by Clancy. About 100 people from the United States and Britain tuned into the symposium via a live Webcast.

"The Fourth Amendment and our interpretation of it has always been a balance between the needs of law enforcement and national security and the privacy of the individual, but new technologies are pushing to limit what we previously understood our rights to be," says Clancy, who has dedicated his professional life to seeking answers to Fourth Amendment questions.

Clancy says he plans to continue to make Fourth Amendment analysis a central feature of the Center's program. A second symposium in February dealt with racial profiling, and a third is planned for next year.

Mississippi Law Journal Symposium
The Effect of Technology on Fourth Amendment Analysis and Individual Rights

Sponsored by National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law
Foreword
Thomas K. Clancy

"Rube Goldberg Meets the Constitution: The Supreme Court, Technology and the Fourth Amendment"
Morgan Cloud

"Katz, Kyllo, and Technology: Virtual Fourth Amendment Protection in the
Twenty-first Century"
Tracey Maclin

"Back to the Future: Kyllo, Katz, and Common Law"
David A. Sklansky
"Public Privacy: Camera Surveillance of Public Places and the Right to Anonymity"
Christopher Slobogin

"Technology and the Threshold of the Fourth
Amendment: A Tale of Two Futures"
James J. Tomkovicz

"A Fourth Amendment 'Search' in the Age of
Technology: Postmodern Perspectives"
Kathryn R. Urbonya

Essay
"Coping with Technological Change: Kyllo and the Proper Analytical Structure to Measure the Scope
of Fourth Amendment Rights"
Thomas K. Clancy

Editor-in-Chief: Jeremy L. Retherford
Executive Editor: Lorraine Walters
Faculty Advisers: Deborah H. Bell, Matthew R. Hall, Robert M. Weems

Back to UMLawyer Home