Use the following U.S. Supreme Court case involving civil liberties. Research the case and write a short essay summarizing the essential elements of the case, including how it originated, but most importantly, what the Court decided.

Fourth Amendment

Kyllo v. United States (2001) - does the use of a thermal-imaging device to detect whether someone is growing marijuana in their home constitute a search in violation of the Fourth Amendment?

Format: Your summary should be written as a short essay with complete sentences and proper grammar. Use a standard font such as Times New Roman and a 12 pt font size, along with 1-inch margins. Length: Your essay should be about 750 words or about 3 pages, double-spaced, not including a list of sources at the end.

Citation and Reference Style: You can use APA, just make sure that you are citing your sources either as parenthetical citations within the text (e.g., Acuna 2023) or with footnotes or endnotes.

Elements to Include: Your essay should address each of the following (think of this as an outline for your essay; each component would represent at least one paragraph of your essay).

1. Background What the case is about? Describe the situation that led to the case. Who is involved? Identify the petitioner (the party bringing the case) and the respondent (the party being challenged). How did the case reach the U.S. Supreme Court? Explain how the case worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. o Did it originate in a state judicial system or in the federal judiciary?

2. Constitutional Question What constitutional issue or civil liberty is at stake? You can find this easily on the Oyez website, which summarizes the legal question the Court is addressing.

3. Key Precedents Identify at least one or two previous Supreme Court cases that relate to the same issue in the case you are writing about. Explain how these earlier cases influenced or related to the current case. How is the current case different from those earlier precedents?

5. Majority Opinion What did the Supreme Court decide? In whose favor did it decide the case? Identify the justice who wrote the majority opinion. Name the justices who were in the majority (those who agreed with the decision). Discuss the reasoning offered by the Court's majority.

6. Concurring Opinion(s) Did any justices agree with the majority but for different reasons? Identify the justice(s) who wrote concurring opinions (if there are any). Some cases may have multiple concurring opinions.

7. Dissenting Opinion(s) Did any justices disagree with the majority? Name the justice(s) who wrote dissenting opinions. Some cases may have multiple dissenting opinions.

8. Conclusion Explain the significance of the case. Why is this case important for civil liberties? What impact might this decision have on future cases or society in general?

Recommended Sources

Oyez: https://www.oyez.org/

If you do a Google search of the title of your case (e.g., Roper v. Simmons), often, the Oyez page for the case will be the first search result. Oyez (pronounced OH-yay1) is a multimedia archive devoted to making SCOTUS materials freely accessible to everyone. The Oyez site provides "the most complete and authoritative source for all of the Court's audio since the installation of a recording system in October 1955." The Oyez page for your case is probably one of the best places to start when deciding on a case to write about. It can also serve as a map for identifying the key components of your case, including the background, how many different opinions were issued, and especially the constitutional question(s) posed by the case.