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59 Washburn L.J. 1 (2020)
The Next Wave of Fourth Amendment Challenges after Carpenter

handle is hein.journals/wasbur59 and id is 7 raw text is: The Next Wave of Fourth Amendment Challenges After Carpenter Matthew Toksont It is an honor to deliver this year's Foulston Siefin Lecture, and a particular honor to follow in the footsteps of past lecturers like Akhil Amar, Erwin Chemerinsky, Rachel Moran, William Eskridge, Harold Koh, and Ruth Okediji, to name only a few. My topic today is the future of Fourth Amendment law following the Supreme Court's enormously important decision in Carpenter v. United States.I Carpenter extends the Fourth Amendment's protections to sensitive information held by third parties, a crucial step towards maintaining the Fourth Amendment's relevance in the digital age. However, the Court's opinion is exceedingly vague and cautious with regard to when and how the Fourth Amendment will protect digital information going forward. I will argue that the meaning of Carpenter ultimately resides in its detailed account of the potential harms threatened by a new form of surveillance. The Court's explanation of these harms and its concerns regarding unregulated government surveillance of citizens' locations take up a large portion of its opinion. It is this discussion, more than any particular line or technical point of distinction from previous cases, that will shape the future of Fourth Amendment law. Moreover, the Court's practical emphasis on the risk of privacy harm is not a one-off or a sharp break from previous practice. Carpenter is consistent with a long line of Supreme Court decisions ignoring or reshaping previous Fourth Amendment doctrines when necessary to protect t Associate Professor, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. What follows is an edited and adapted version of the 2019 Foulston Siefkin Lecture, delivered at Washburn University School of Law on March 28, 2019. My thanks to the Washburn University School of Law for its invitation, and to the Washburn faculty members and students for their comments and questions. I also wish to thank Hiroshi Motomura for his helpful comments and advice. Special thanks to Christian Clark and Connor Plant for excellent research assistance. 1. 138 S. Ct. 2206 (2018). 1

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