Tech Roundup Episode 20 – Drone Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
Are we ready to live under the watchful eye of drones?
In this Tech Roundup podcast, Trace Mitchell (Institute for Justice), Brent Skorup (Mercatus Center), and Jay Stanley (ACLU) discuss the rapid adoption of drone technology by law enforcement entities and the legal and policy implications of this trend.
They provide insights into recent court cases involving warrantless drone surveillance, spotlighting the difficulty in applying previous Fourth Amendment jurisprudence to this new technology. They discuss the legitimate interests of law enforcement in using drones but grapple with the societal risks of normalizing unending overhead surveillance. They explore establishing reasonable limitations, transparency, and democratic oversight in law enforcement drone programs.
Tune in to this thought-provoking conversation on personal liberties, privacy, and the future of law enforcement.
Featuring:
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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.
Litigation Fellow, Institute for Justice
Trace Mitchell is a Litigation Fellow at the Institute for Justice.
Prior to joining IJ, Trace clerked for the Honorable Judge Biran of the Court of Appeals of Maryland. He previously served as Policy Counsel for NetChoice, a technology-focused trade association dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and free expression on the internet, where he focused on issues surrounding content moderation, antitrust policy, and entrepreneurialism and innovation more generally. Before that, Trace worked as a Research Associate with the Mercatus Center and as a Program Associate with the Liberty & Law Center at George Mason University. Trace was the 2019 winner of Think Freely Media’s “Great Communicators Tournament” and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Law360, InsideSources, The Hill, National Review, as well as various other publications nationwide.
Trace received his undergraduate degree from Florida Gulf Coast University and his law degree from the George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School.
Trace is a member of the D.C. bar.
Legal Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Brent Skorup is a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Before joining Cato, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at the George Mason University. His research areas include free speech, technology law, Fourth Amendment protections, regulation, and property law. Skorup has published pieces in economics and law journals and in popular media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, and Wired. He’s appeared as a TV and radio interview guest for news outlets like C‑SPAN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, and CNBC Asia.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a dissenting opinion at the Illinois Supreme Court, and the ALI's Restatement of the Law of Property have cited his legal research and he has testified as a technology and legal expert in legislative hearings in several states. Skorup has been appointed to several federal and state advisory bodies and he is currently a member of the Texas Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Committee.
Skorup has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law, where he was articles editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal. He was a legal clerk at the FCC’s wireless bureau and Office of General Counsel and at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Senior Policy Analyst, Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, ACLU
Jay Stanley (@JayCStanley) is senior policy analyst with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, where he researches, writes and speaks about technology-related privacy and civil liberties issues and their future. He is the editor of the ACLU’s Free Future blog and has authored and co-authored a variety of influential ACLU reports on privacy and technology topics. Before joining the ACLU, he was an analyst at the technology research firm Forrester, served as American politics editor of Facts on File’s World News Digest, and as national newswire editor at Medialink. He is a graduate of Williams College and holds an M.A. in American History from the University of Virginia.