''Dow Chemical Co. v. United States'', 476 U.S. 227 (1986), was a
United States Supreme Court case decided in 1986 dealing with the
right to privacy and advanced technology of aerial surveillance.
Factual background and decision
The
EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
used, without a warrant, a commercial aerial photographer to get photographs of a heavily guarded Dow facility that was, according to the petitioner, protected by the State Trade Secrecy Law.
The decision:
For purposes of aerial surveillance, the open areas of an industrial complex are more comparable to an "open field" in which an individual may not legitimately demand privacy.
[Oliver v. United States, 466 U. S. 170] In the absence of a "reasonable expectation of privacy" the
Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable searches does not apply.
See also
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Aerial surveillance doctrine
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California v. Ciraolo
''California v. Ciraolo'', 476 U.S. 207 (1986), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court, in which it ruled that warrantless aerial observation of a person's backyard did not violate the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitut ...
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* ''
California v. Greenwood
''California v. Greenwood'', 486 U.S. 35 (1988), was a Legal case, case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the Search warrant, warran ...
,''
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Curtilage
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Expectation of privacy
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Florida v. Riley
''Florida v. Riley'', 488 U.S. 445 (1989), was a United States Supreme Court decision which held that police officials do not need a warrant to observe an individual's property from public airspace.
Background
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office rec ...
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Kyllo v. United States
''Kyllo v. United States'', 533 U.S. 27 (2001), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the court ruled that the use of thermal imaging devices to monitor heat radiation in or around a person's home, even if conducted fro ...
,''
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Open-fields doctrine
The open-fields doctrine (also open-field doctrine or open-fields rule), in the U.S. law of criminal procedure, is the legal doctrine that a "warrantless search of the area outside a property owner's curtilage" does not violate the Fourth Amendme ...
References
Further reading
*Diane Rosenwasser Skalak, Dow Chemical Co. v. United States: Aerial Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment, 3 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 277 (1986) Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol3/iss2/6
"AERIAL SEARCHES OF FENCED AREAS UPHELD BY COURT," ''The New York Times'' (May 20, 1986)
External links
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{{US4thAmendment, scope, state=expanded
United States Supreme Court cases
1986 in United States case law
United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court
Right to privacy under the United States Constitution
United States Fourth Amendment case law
Dow Chemical Company