Big Brother is Watching: The Fundamental Rights and Fourth Amendment Implications of Chicago's City-Wide Surveillance Network

Abstract

In the wake of Edward Snowden's groundbreaking reveal of NSA practices regarding surveillance on American citizens, many individuals have begun questioning whether government surveillance should be reined in. The City of Chicago provides an excellent case study for how government surveillance may run afoul of the the fundamental rights implicit in the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Fourth Amendment right to be free from warrantless searches. Estimates conducted in 2013 indicate that at that time, Chicago's surveillance network was comprised of approximately 24,000 surveillance cameras throughout the city. This note analyzes the this vast surveillance network through the lens of a fundamental rights theory as well as Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. Part I focuses on fundamental rights, the right of privacy, and what rights are incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment to apply to state and local governments. This section will begin with a brief history of fundamental rights in the United States and address incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment with cases like Barron v. City of Baltimore and the Slaughter-House Cases, and provide a discussion on the various theories of incorporation. Next, a brief discussion will be presented outlining which rights from the Bill of Rights have been incorporated against the States via the Fourteenth Amendment. Finally, Part I will address the fundamental right to privacy, and whether it is violated by such a pervasive system of surveillance. Part II will focus on Chicago's surveillance camera network through the lens of the Fourth Amendment. This part will begin with a history of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence before Katz v. U.S., an analysis of the Katz decision and its impact, and an overview of how case law has evolved since Katz. Part II will then look to see if, and in what situations, surveillance via Chicago's surveillance network violates the Fourth Amendment as an illegal search. Finally, Part III will provide recommendations for how surveillance on this scale should be handled and what safeguards are appropriate to prevent abuse.