Opinion ID: 532961
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fourth Amendment Methodology

Text: 14 The Supreme Court has laid out the methodology that we follow in analyzing assertions of fourth amendment violations. Our primary task is to determine whether an unlawful search or seizure violated the defendant's own constitutional rights. United States v. Payner, 447 U.S. 727, 731, 100 S.Ct. 2439, 2444, 65 L.Ed.2d 468 (1980). To this end, the Court has instructed that the defendant's constitutional rights are violated only when the challenged conduct invaded his legitimate expectation of privacy rather than that of a third party. Id. (emphasis in original) (citing Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 143, 99 S.Ct. 421, 430, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978)). 3 Thus, before we may evaluate the alleged unconstitutionality of police activity we must first decide whether the police infringed the defendant's legitimate expectation of privacy. 4 See Rawlings v. Kentucky, 448 U.S. 98, 111-12, 100 S.Ct. 2556, 2564-65, 65 L.Ed.2d 633 (1980) (Blackmun, J., concurring).