The Fourth amendment states that you have the right of privacy in your home and body. However, that right was violated when the government scanned DLK’s home. Federal agents suspected that DLK was growing marijuana in his home, and scanned the outside of his home with a thermal imager. The thermal imager was able to detect unusual heat waved in certain places of the house. Thus, the question is, did the government go too far with the right to investigate a place as well as the right to take evidence by the government? The answer to that question is yes for three main reasons. The government violated DLK’s 4th amendment rights, a warrant was needed to scan the house, and the government invaded his privacy because they used technology that enhanced …show more content…
As stated in document F, “[In this case,] the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable without [going in], the surveillance is a search and is … unreasonable without a warrant.” Since that device was used to scan DLK’s house and then the scan was used as evidence, because it had no warrant it may not be used in court. According to the quote by Carroll v. United States in document A, “The Supreme Court ruled that the warrantless search was valid because … evidence would disappear.” However, in DLK’s case, the government would still need a warrant since all the marijuana in his house could not be quickly destroyed. Not to mention that with the information from the thermal imager, the government made an assumption. There are many reasons the thermal imager could have detected so many heat waves. The reasons could be that he was baking or he was using heat radiators to keep warm. However, that is an assumption too. Thus, to be sure what actually was occurring in the house, a warrant was needed. In addition according to a quote by Justice Antonin Scalia in document F, “...to explore details of a home that would have previously have been unknowable without [going in], the surveillance is a search and is … unreasonable without a warrant.” Also, since using a device to see beyond the naked eye violated privacy and Fourth amendment rights, as stated in document D, “Thermal imagers should only be used when authorized by a warrant.” With that stated, for no side to make assumptions and have a fair trial, a warrant was needed to explore details of the activities inside the