Katz v.

US Facts: FBI agents placed an electronic listening and recording devise to the outside of the public telephone booth from which Katz had placed calls. Based on the information obtained from his phone calls, Katz was charged with transmitting wagering information by telephone from Los Angeles to Miami and Boston, in violation of a federal statute. At trial he sought to have the conversations omitted, claiming it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Despite his objections the conversations were admitted and Katz was convicted.

Issue: WON private conversations exchanged over public telephone lines, made from a public telephone booth, and obtained by the governments use of a wiretapping device, is in violation of the Fourth Amendment(analogous to Art. III Sec. 2), on the ground that such conversations are similarly protected as searches

Ruling: YES. The Fourth Amendment protects people, and not places. The Government's eavesdropping activities violated the privacy upon which petitioner justifiably relied while using the telephone booth, and thus constituted a "search and seizure" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.

NOTE: Concurring opinion of Harlan, J. elucidated two-pronged test for determining whether there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. First, if the individual has exhibited an actual expectation of privacy, for example, shutting the door upon using a phone booth; second, society is prepared to recognize that this expectation is (objectively) reasonable; then there is a right of privacy in the given circumstance.