Florida V. Jardines: The Wolf at The Castle Door
Even before the United States declared its independence, colonists believed that their homes were their castles.1 This belief had its origins in English common law, declared by the Prime Minister of Great Britain, William Pitt, in 1763:
The poorest man may, in his cottage, bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England may not enter; all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.2
This doctrine is embodied in the Fourth Amendment3 to our Constitution and is currently at a crossroads.
Advances in technology and investigative techniques have resulted in the “King,” or government, being capable of entering a citizen’s home without physically crossing its threshold.4 Today, the government can hear what is being said,5 see what is being done,6 and know what is being written,7 without a physical intrusion into the home. All that stops the King from crossing the threshold of each citizen’s home is the Fourth Amendment and the Supreme Court’s repeated declaration that “[a]t the very core of the Fourth Amendment stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.”8
