In this assignment, you will be a Supreme Court Justice deciding on a Fourth Amendment case. Carefully read about the case in question, the summaries of related Supreme Court decisions, and directions for the assignment. You can get a printable version of the instructions and rubric by clicking on the links above.

The Case ?Doe v. City of Intrusia": Trouble was brewing in the small, quiet city of Intrusia. Someone was selling methamphetamine to the local teenagers and a popular football player died after an overdose. The community was panicked and demanded that the police find the source of the meth and shut it down immediately. The police suspected that 20 year old Joe Doe was selling the meth but they didn?t have much evidence.
The state prosecutor advised the police department to talk with the local cell phone carrier about ?cloning? Mr. Doe?s phone. The cell phone carrier created a ?clone? phone which allowed the police to read text messages sent and received by Mr. Doe. In no time the police had evidence implicating Mr. Doe as a dealer and the location of the meth lab. Mr. Doe was convicted and the meth lab was closed.
Mr. Doe is appealing his conviction, claiming that the interception of text messages violated the unreasonable search and seizure protections of the Fourth Amendment. Furthermore, all evidence from the text messages should have been excluded from his trial.
The City of Intrusia argues that there was no physical intrusion into Mr. Doe?s space and that police were acting quickly in order to uphold their duty to protect the community?s safety.

Background: In Silverman v. United States the Supreme Court held that that an unreasonable search occurs only if a "constitutionally protected area" has been intruded upon. In a later case, Katz v. United States, Justice Harlan proposed a two pronged test of whether public actions should be considered private and therefore protected. 1) Has the person exhibited an expectation of privacy? and 2) is the expectation of privacy one that society is prepared to recognize as ‘reasonable.’?
In more recent decisions, the Supreme Court has found that society is not prepared to extend privacy rights to bank customers regarding their bank statements and that society was not prepared to recognize a privacy right-to grow a backyard crop of marijuana.

The Questions for the Court:
Does the Fourth Amendment protect text messages sent over a cell phone?
Is there a ?reasonable expectation of privacy? when texts are sent?

Write an opinion as if you were a judge. Please note that the term "opinion" here does NOT mean an expression of your personal views! Instead, it means a formal statement of the legal reasons and principles defending your conclusion of whether the text messages are protected under the Fourth Amendment.
To help you in making your decision, please read the summaries of past Fourth Amendment rulings.
As you read through the Supreme Court decisions above, look at how justices have crafted their decisions, and learn from them. Use these as models for your paper.
Write clearly and concisely, defining the issues as narrowly as you can. State your decision, and defend it.
Cite precedent and the Constitution. You can’t decide it the way you want to and make up a pathway to your decision!
Refer to at least 3 of the cases featured above.