Court Opinion

ID: 9430505
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:29:52.643758+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:24.700580
License: Public Domain

*240Justice Powell,
with whom Justice Brennan, Justice Marshall, and Justice Blackmun join,
concurring in part, and dissenting in part.
The Fourth Amendment protects private citizens from arbitrary surveillance by their Government. For nearly 20 years, this Court has adhered to a standard that ensured that Fourth Amendment rights would retain their vitality as technology expanded the Government’s capacity to commit unsuspected intrusions into private areas and activities. Today, in the context of administrative aerial photography of commercial premises, the Court retreats from that standard. It holds that the photography was not a Fourth Amendment “search” because it was not accompanied by a physical trespass and because the equipment used was not the most highly sophisticated form of technology available to the Government. Under this holding, the existence of an asserted privacy interest apparently will be decided solely by reference to the manner of surveillance used to intrude on that interest. Such an inquiry wall not protect Fourth Amendment rights, but rather will permit their gradual decay as technology advances.
I
Since the 1890’s, petitioner Dow Chemical Company (Dow) has been manufacturing chemicals at a facility in Midland, Michigan. Its complex covers 2,000 acres and contains a number of chemical process plants. Many of these are “open-air” plants, with reactor equipment, loading and storage facilities, transfer lines, and motors located in the open areas between buildings. Dow claims that the technology used in these plants constitutes confidential business information, and that the design and configuration of the equipment located there reveal details of Dow’s secret manufacturing processes.1
*241Short of erecting a roof over the Midland complex, Dow has, as the Court states, undertaken “elaborate” precautions to secure the facility from unwelcome intrusions. Ante, at 229. In fact, Dow appears to have done everything commercially feasible to protect the confidential business information and property located within the borders of the facility. Security measures include an 8-foot-high chain link fence completely surrounding the facility that is guarded by security personnel and monitored by closed-circuit television, alarm systems that are triggered by unauthorized entry into the facility, motion detectors that indicate movement of persons within restricted areas, a prohibition on use of camera equipment by anyone other than authorized Dow personnel, and a strict policy under which no photographs of the facility may be taken or released without prior management review and approval.2 In addition to these precautions, the open-air plants were placed within the internal portion of the 2,000-acre complex to conceal them from the view of members of the public outside the perimeter fence.
Dow’s security program also includes procedures designed to protect the facility from aerial photography. Dow has instructed its employees that it is “concerned when other than commercial passenger flights pass over the plant property.” App. 14. When “suspicious” overflights occur, such as where a plane makes several passes over the facility, employees try to obtain the plane’s identification number and de*242scription. Working with personnel from the State Police and local airports, Dow employees then locate the pilot to determine if he has photographed the facility. If Dow learns that he has done so, Dow takes steps to prevent dissemination of photographs that show details of its proprietary technology.3
The controversy underlying this litigation arose out of the efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to check emissions from the power houses located within Dow’s Midland complex for violations of federal air quality standards. After making one ground-level inspection with Dow’s consent, and obtaining schematic drawings of the power houses from Dow, EPA requested Dow’s permission to conduct a second inspection during which EPA proposed to photograph the facility. Dow objected to EPA’s decision to take photographs and denied the request. EPA then informed Dow that it was considering obtaining a search warrant to gain entry to the plant. Inexplicably, EPA did not follow that procedure, but instead hired a private firm to take aerial photographs of the facility.
Using a sophisticated aerial mapping camera,4 this firm took approximately 75 color photographs of various parts of *243the plant. The District Court found that “some of the photographs taken from directly above the plant at 1,200 feet are capable of enlargement to a scale of 1 inch equals 20 feet or greater, without significant loss of detail or resolution. When enlarged in this manner, and viewed under magnification, it is possible to discern equipment, pipes, and power lines as small as Vz inch in diameter.” 536 F. Supp. 1355, 1357 (ED Mich. 1982) (emphasis in original). Observation of these minute details is, as the District Court found, “a near physical impossibility” from anywhere “but directly above” the complex. Ibid, (emphasis in original). Because of the complicated details captured in the photographs, the District Court concluded, “the camera saw a great deal more than the human eye could ever see,” even if the observer was located directly above the facility.5 Id., at 1367.
Several weeks later, Dow learned about the EPA-authorized overflight from an independent source. Dow filed this lawsuit, alleging that the aerial photography was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment and constituted an inspection technique outside the scope of EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act, 42 U. S. C. §§7413, 7414.6 The District Court upheld Dow’s position on both issues and entered a permanent injunction restraining EPA from conducting future aerial surveillance and photography of the Midland facility. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed. 749 F. 2d 307 (1984). It concluded that, while Dow had a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to *244ground-level intrusion into the enclosed buildings within its facility, it did not have such an expectation with respect to aerial observation and photography.7 The court also held that EPA’s use of aerial photography did not exceed its authority under §114 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U. S. C. §7414. We granted certiorari to review both of these holdings. 472 U. S. 1007 (1985).
The Court rejects Dow’s constitutional claim on the ground that “the taking of aerial photographs of an industrial plant complex from navigable airspace is not a search prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.” Ante, at 239.8 The Court does not explicitly reject application of the reasonable expectation of privacy standard of Katz v. United States, 389 U. S. 347 (1967), in this context; nor does it explain how its result squares with Katz and its progeny. Instead, the Court relies on questionable assertions concerning the manner of the surveillance, and on its conclusion that the Midland facility more closely resembles an “open field” than it does the “curtilage” of a private home. The Court’s decision marks a drastic reduction in the Fourth Amendment protections previously afforded to private commercial premises under our decisions. Along with California v. Ciraolo, ante, p. 207, also decided today, the decision may signal a significant retreat from the rationale of prior Fourth Amendment decisions.
*245II
Fourth Amendment protection of privacy interests in business premises “is . . . based upon societal expectations that have deep roots in the history of the Amendment.” Oliver v. United States, 466 U. S. 170, 178, n. 8 (1984). In Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U. S. 307 (1978), we observed that the “particular offensiveness” of the general warrant and writ of assistance, so despised by the Framers of the Constitution, “was acutely felt by the merchants and businessmen whose premises and products were inspected” under their authority. Id., at 311. Against that history, “it is untenable that the ban on warrantless searches was not intended to shield places of business as well as of residence.” Id., at 312. Our precedents therefore leave no doubt that proprietors of commercial premises, including corporations, have the right to conduct their business free from unreasonable official intrusion. See G. M. Leasing Corp. v. United States, 429 U. S. 338, 353 (1977); See v. City of Seattle, 387 U. S. 541, 543 (1967).
In the context of administrative inspections of business premises, the Court has recognized an exception to the Fourth Amendment rule that warrantless searches of property not accessible to members of the public are presumptively unreasonable. Since the interest of the owner of commercial property is “in being free from unreasonable intrusions onto his property by agents of the government,” not in being free from any inspections whatsoever, the Court has held that “the assurance of regularity provided by a warrant may be unnecessary under certain inspection schemes.” Donovan v. Dewey, 452 U. S. 594, 599 (1981) (emphasis in original). Thus, where Congress has made a reasonable determination that a system of warrantless inspections is necessary to enforce its regulatory purpose, and where “the federal regulatory presence is sufficiently comprehensive and defined that the owner of commercial property cannot help but be aware that his property will be subject to periodic in*246spections,” warrantless inspections may be permitted. Id., at 600. This exception does not apply here. The Government does not contend, nor does the Court hold, that the Clean Air Act authorizes a warrantless inspection program that adequately protects the privacy interests of those whose premises are subject to inspection.
Instead, the Court characterizes our decisions in this area simply as giving the Government “‘greater latitude to conduct warrantless inspections of commercial property’” because privacy interests in such property differ significantly from privacy interests in the home. Ante, at 237 (citation omitted). This reasoning misunderstands the relevant precedents. The exception we have recognized for warrantless inspections, limited to pervasively regulated businesses, see Donovan v. Dewey, supra; United States v. Biswell, 406 U. S. 311 (1972); Colonnade Catering Corp. v. United States, 397 U. S. 72 (1970), is not founded solely on the differences between the premises occupied by such businesses and homes, or on a conclusion that administrative inspections do not intrude on protected privacy interests and therefore do not implicate Fourth Amendment concerns. Rather, the exception is based on a determination that the reasonable expectation of privacy that the owner of a business does enjoy may be adequately protected by the regulatory scheme itself. Donovan v. Dewey, supra, at 599. We have never held that warrantless intrusions on commercial property generally are acceptable under the Fourth Amendment. On the contrary, absent a sufficiently defined and regular program of warrantless inspections, the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement is fully applicable in the commercial context. Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., supra, at 312-315, 324; G. M. Leasing Corp. v. United States, supra, at 358; See v. City of Seattle, supra, at 543-546.
Ill
Since our decision in Katz v. United States, the question whether particular governmental conduct constitutes a *247Fourth Amendment “search” has turned on whether that conduct intruded on a constitutionally protected expectation of privacy. Smith v. Maryland, 442 U. S. 735 (1979); United States v. United States District Court, 407 U. S. 297 (1972). In the context of governmental inspection of commercial property, the Court has relied on the standard of Katz to determine whether an inspection violated the Fourth Amendment rights of the owner of the property. See Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., supra, at 313, 315. Today, while purporting to consider the Fourth Amendment question raised here under the rubric of Katz, the Court’s analysis of the issue ignores the heart of the Katz standard.
A
The Court correctly observes that Dow has an expectation of privacy in the buildings located on the Midland property and that society is prepared to recognize that expectation as reasonable. Ante, at 236. Similarly, in view of the numerous security measures protecting the entire Dow complex from intrusion on the ground, the Court properly concludes that Dow has a reasonable expectation in being free from such intrusion. Ante, at 236-237. Turning to the issue presented in this case, however, the Court erroneously states that the Fourth Amendment protects Dow only from “actual physical entry” by the Government “into any enclosed area.” Ibid.
This statement simply repudiates Katz. The reasonable expectation of privacy standard was designed to ensure that the Fourth Amendment continues to protect privacy in an era when official surveillance can be accomplished without any physical penetration of or proximity to the area under inspection. Writing for the Court in Katz, Justice Stewart explained that Fourth Amendment protections would mean little in our modern world if the reach of the Amendment “turn[ed] upon the presence or absence of a physical intrusion into any given enclosure.” 389 U. S., at 353. Thus, the Court’s observation that the aerial photography was not accompanied by a physical trespass is irrelevant to the analysis *248of the Fourth Amendment issue raised here, just as it was irrelevant in Katz. Since physical trespass no longer functions as a reliable proxy for intrusion on privacy, it is necessary to determine if the surveillance, whatever its form, intruded on a reasonable expectation that a certain activity or area would remain private.
B
An expectation of privacy is reasonable for Fourth Amendment purposes if it is rooted in a “source outside of the Fourth Amendment, either by reference to concepts of real or personal property law or to understandings that are recognized and permitted by society.”9 Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U. S. 128, 143-144, n. 12 (1978). Dow argues that, by enacting trade secret laws, society has recognized that it has a legitimate interest in preserving the privacy of the relevant portions of its open-air plants. As long as Dow takes reasonable steps to protect its secrets, the law should enforce its right against theft or disclosure of those secrets.10
As discussed above, our cases holding that Fourth Amendment protections extend to business property have expressly relied on our society’s historical understanding that owners *249of such property have a legitimate interest in being free from unreasonable governmental inspection. Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U. S., at 311-313; see Oliver v. United States, 466 U. S., at 178, n. 8. Moreover, despite the Court’s misconception of the nature of Dow’s argument concerning the laws protecting the trade secrets within its open-air plants,11 Dow plainly is correct to argue that those laws constitute society’s express determination that commercial entities have a legitimate interest in the privacy of certain kinds of property. Dow has taken every feasible step to protect information claimed to constitute trade secrets from the public and particularly from its competitors. Accordingly, Dow has a reasonable expectation of privacy in its commercial facility in the sense required by the Fourth Amendment. EPA’s conduct in this case intruded on that expectation because the aerial photography captured information that Dow had taken reasonable steps to preserve as private.
C
In this case, the Court does not claim that Dow’s expectation of privacy is unreasonable because members of the public fly in airplanes. Whatever the merits of this position in California v. Ciraolo, ante, p. 207, it is inapplicable here, for it is not the case that “[a]ny member of the public flying in this airspace who cared to glance down” could have obtained the information captured by the aerial photography of Dow’s facility. California v. Ciraolo, ante, at 213. As the District Court expressly found, the camera used to photograph the facility “saw a great deal more than the human eye could *250ever see.”12 536 F. Supp., at 1367. See supra, at 242-243, and n. 5. Thus, the possibility of casual observation by passengers on commercial or private aircraft provides no support for the Court’s rejection of Dow’s privacy interests.
The Court nevertheless asserts that Dow has no constitutionally protected privacy interests in its open-air facility because the facility more closely resembles an “open field” than a “curtilage.” Of course, the Dow facility resembles neither. The purpose of the curtilage doctrine is to identify the limited outdoor area closely associated with a home. See Oliver v. United States, supra, at 180. The doctrine is irrelevant here since Dow makes no argument that its privacy interests are equivalent to those in the home. Moreover, the curtilage doctrine has never been held to constitute a limit on Fourth Amendment protection. Yet, the Court applies the doctrine, which affords heightened protection to homeowners, in a manner that eviscerates the protection traditionally given to the owner of commercial property. The Court offers no convincing explanation for this application.
Nor does the open field doctrine have a role to play in this case. Open fields, as we held in Oliver, are places in which people do not enjoy reasonable expectations of privacy and therefore are open to warrantless inspections from ground *251and air alike. Oliver v. United States, supra, at 180-181. Here, the Court concedes that Dow was constitutionally protected against warrantless intrusion by the Government on the ground. The complex bears no resemblance to an open field either in fact or within the meaning of our cases.
The other basis for the Court’s judgment — assorted observations concerning the technology used to photograph Dow’s plant — is even less convincing. The Court notes that EPA did not use “some unique sensory device that, for example, could penetrate the walls of buildings and record conversations.” Ante, at 238. Nor did EPA use “satellite technology” or another type of “equipment not generally available to the public.” Ibid. Instead, as the Court states, the surveillance was accomplished by using “a conventional, albeit precise, commercial camera commonly used in mapmaking.” Ibid. These observations shed no light on the antecedent question whether Dow had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Katz measures Fourth Amendment rights by reference to the privacy interests that a free society recognizes as reasonable, not by reference to the method of surveillance used in the particular case. If the Court’s observations were to become the basis of a new Fourth Amendment standard that would replace the rule in Katz, privacy rights would be seriously at risk as technological advances become generally disseminated and available in our society.13
*252IV
I would reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals. EPA’s aerial photography penetrated into a private commercial enclave, an area in which society has recognized that privacy interests legitimately may be claimed. The photographs captured highly confidential information that Dow had taken reasonable and objective steps to preserve as private. Since the Clean Air Act does not establish a defined and regular program of warrantless inspections, see Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U. S. 307 (1978), EPA should have sought a warrant from a neutral judicial officer.14 The Court’s holding that the warrantless photography does not constitute an unreasonable search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment is based on the absence of any physical trespass — a theory disapproved in a line of cases beginning with the decision in Katz v. United States. E. g., United States v. United States District Court, 407 U. S. 297 (1972). These cases have provided a sensitive and reasonable means of preserving interests in privacy cherished by our society. The Court’s decision today cannot be reconciled with our precedents or with the purpose of the Fourth Amendment.

 The record establishes that Dow used the open-air design primarily for reasons of safety. Dow determined that, if an accident were to occur and hazardous chemicals were inadvertently released, the concentration of toxic *241and explosive fumes within enclosed plants would constitute an intolerable risk to employee health and safety. Moreover, as the Court correctly observes, Dow found that the cost of enclosing the facility would be prohibitive. Ante, at 229, 236. The record reflects that the cost of roofing just one of the open-air plants would have been approximately $15 million in 1978. The record further shows that enclosing the plants would greatly increase the cost of routine maintenance. App. 74-75.

 On these and other security measures protecting the Midland facility, the District Court found that Dow has “spent at least 3.25 million dollars in each of the last ten years” preceding this litigation. 536 F. Supp. 1355, 1365 (ED Mich 1982).

 When Dow discovers that aerial photographs have been taken, it requests the photographer to turn over the film. Dow then develops the film and reviews the photographs. If the photographs depict private business information, Dow retains them and the negatives. In the event that the photographer refuses to cooperate, Dow commences litigation to protect its trade secrets.

 The District Court believed it was “important to an understanding of this case to provide a description of the highly effective equipment used” in photographing Dow’s facility. Id., at 1357, n. 2. “The aircraft used was a twin engine Beechcraft,” which is “able to ‘provide photographic stability, fast mobility and flight endurance required for precision photography.’” Ibid, (citation omitted). The camera used “cost in excess of $22,000.00 and is described by the company as the ‘finest precision aerial camera available.’ . . . The camera was mounted to the floor inside the aircraft and was capable of taking several photographs in precise and rapid succession.” Ibid, (citation omitted). This technique facilitates stereoscopic examination, a type of examination that permits depth perception.

 As the District Court explained, when a person is “flying at 1,200 or 5,000 feet, [his] eye can discern only the basic sizes, shapes, outlines, and colors of the objects below.” Id., at 1367. The aerial camera used in this ease, on the other hand, “successfully captured vivid images of Dow’s plant which EPA could later analyze under enlarged and magnified conditions.” Ibid.

 Dow also claimed that the aerial photography constituted a “taking” of its property without due process of law in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The District Court dismissed that claim without prejudice, and it is not before us.

 The Court of Appeals’ holding rested in part on its erroneous observation that Dow had taken no steps to protect its privacy from aerial intrusions. See 749 F. 2d, at 312-313. Moreover, the court apparently assumed that Dow would have to build some kind of barrier against aerial observation in order to have an actual expectation of privacy from aerial surveillance. Ibid. The court did not explain the basis for this assumption or discuss why it disagreed with the District Court’s conclusion that commercial overflights posed virtually no risk to Dow’s privacy interests.

 I agree with the Court’s determination that the use of aerial photography as an inspection technique, absent Fourth Amendment constraints, does not exceed the scope of EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act, 42 U. S. C. § 7414(a), and to this extent I join Part III of the Court’s opinion.

 Our decisions often use the words “reasonable” and “legitimate” interchangeably to describe a privacy interest entitled to Fourth Amendment protection. See California v. Ciraolo, ante, at 219-220, n. 4 (Powell, J., dissenting).

 As the District Court observed: “Society has spoken in this area through Congress, the State Legislatures, and the courts. Federal law, under the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U. S. C. § 1905, makes it a crime for government employees to disclose trade secret information. The Clean Air Act itself, in Section 114(e), 42 U. S. C. § 7414(c), addresses this concern for [proprietary] information. Moreover, EPA has adopted regulations providing for protection of trade secrets. 40 CFR 2.201-2.309. Michigan law, in addition to recognizing a tort action, also makes it a crime to appropriate trade secrets, M. C. L. A. § 752.772, as well as to invade one’s privacy by means of surveillance. M. C. L. A. §§ 750.539a-539b. These legislative and judicial pronouncements are reflective of a societal acceptance of Dow’s privacy expectation as reasonable.” 536 F. Supp., at 1367.

 Contrary to the Court’s assertion, Dow does not claim that Fourth Amendment protection of its facility is coextensive -with the scope of trade secret statutes. Ante, at 232. Rather, Dow argues that the existence of those statutes provides support for its claim that society recognizes commercial privacy interests as reasonable.

 The Court disregards the fact that photographs taken by the sophisticated camera used in this case can be significantly enlarged without loss of acuity. As explained in n. 4, supra, the technique used in taking these pictures facilitates stereoscopic examination, which provides the viewer of the photographs with depth perception. Moreover, if the photographs were taken on transparent slides, they could be projected on a large screen. These possibilities illustrate the intrusive nature of aerial surveillance ignored by the Court today. The only Fourth Amendment limitation on such surveillance under today’s decision apparently is based on the means of surveillance. The Court holds that Dow had no reasonable expectation of privacy from surveillance accomplished by mean^ of a $22,000 mapping camera, but that it does have a reasonable expectation of privacy from satellite surveillance and photography. This type of distinction is heretofore wholly unknown in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.

 With all respect, the Court’s purported distinction — for purposes of Fourth Amendment analysis — between degrees of sophistication in surveillance equipment simply cannot be supported in fact or by the reasoning of any prior Fourth Amendment decision of this Court. The camera used by the firm hired by EPA is described by the Court as a “conventional” camera commonly used in mapmaking. Ante, at 238. The Court suggests, if not holds, that its decision would have been different if EPA had used “satellite technology” or other equipment not “available to the public.” Ibid. But the camera used in this case was highly sophisticated in terms of its capability to reveal minute details of Dow’s confidential technology and equipment. The District Court found that the photographs revealed details as “small as k inch in diameter.” See swpra, at 243. Satel*252lite photography hardly could have been more informative about Dow’s technology. Nor are “members of the public” likely to purchase $22,000 cameras.

 Our cases have explained that an administrative agency need not demonstrate “[p]robable cause in the criminal law sense” to obtain a warrant to inspect property for compliance with a regulatory scheme. Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U. S., at 320. Rather, an administrative warrant may issue “not only on specific evidence of an existing violation but also on a showing that ‘reasonable legislative or administrative standards for conducting an . . . inspection are satisfied with respect to a particular [establishment].’” Ibid, (footnote omitted; quoting Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U. S. 523, 538 (1967)).