Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1987
Abstract
Part I briefly reviews basic Fourth Amendment case law regulating searches and seizures, summarizes the exigent circumstances doctrine, and discusses the applicability of that doctrine to electronic surveillance of communications. Part II outlines Title III's requirements for a "standard" (non-emergency, non-roving) interception order, including what the application and order must contain, and how such an order must be executed. Part III studies the emergency surveillance provision of Title III and reviews Justice Department policies and practices in implementing that provision. Part IV analyzes the new roving intercept provision, discusses its constitutionality, and looks at some practical problems that may arise when obtaining and using an intercept order authorized under it. Part V briefly examines how three other Western democracies, Canada, Israel and West Germany, regulate emergency surveillance, and compares their rules to our own. Part VI offers an evaluation of the current system of regulation, and some proposed reforms.
Recommended Citation
Clifford S. Fishman, Interception of Communications in Exigent Circumstances: The Fourth Amendment, Federal Legislation, and the United States Department of Justice, 22 GA. L. REV. 1 (1987).