Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: Any-Day Take-Home

This course surveys the federal constitutional law that regulates police investigations and law enforcement conduct. Most of the course will address the Fourth Amendment’s restrictions on search and seizure. We will cover the meaning of “search,” the role of “reasonableness,” probable cause, warrants, electronic surveillance, consent, arrests, stop-and-frisk policies and practices, regulatory searches, and remedies for constitutional violations. We will then consider interrogations, confessions, and the Fifth Amendment guarantees of due process and freedom from compelled testimonial self-incrimination. We will also briefly study the Sixth Amendment right to counsel where it intersects with police questioning and eyewitness identifications.