Digital Privacy and the Fourth Amendment: Data Ownership, Warrants, and Constitutional Rights

As Americans use smartphones, search engines, AI tools, and financial services, they generate vast amounts of personal digital data—but how much of it is protected by the Fourth Amendment? Must law enforcement obtain a warrant to access Google search histories, group chats, or cryptocurrency transactions?

Join Stanford Law’s Prof. Orin Kerr, author of The Digital Fourth Amendment, and Jim Harper of AEI, who recently sued the IRS to defend his Fourth Amendment rights, for a timely conversation on privacy in the digital age. The discussion will highlight recent cases, including Harper v. Werfel on financial privacy and Heidi Group v. Texas HHS on digital records ownership, as well as hot-button issues like geofence warrants. Moderated by Brent Skorup of the Cato Institute, the program will explore how courts, law enforcement, and citizens are navigating the challenges posed by new technologies, government regulation, and enduring constitutional principles.

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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.