The Brennan Center asked a group of scholars to pick their most important decision of 2024. Here is a sample:
| Protecting People in the Criminal Justice System |
| Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law |
| My pick for the most notable state constitutional case of 2024 is Alaska’s State v. McKelvey. The issue in the case is whether “the police have to get a warrant before taking pictures of your yard with a zoom lens while flying in an airplane.” |
| In 1989’s Florida v. Riley, the U.S. Supreme Court held that aerial surveillance of a house, even of a partially covered greenhouse, from a helicopter did not constitute a search for which a warrant was required under the Fourth Amendment. |
| But in McKelvey, the Alaska Supreme Court came to the opposite conclusion under the Alaska Constitution. The court declared: “Unregulated aerial surveillance of the home with high-powered optics is the kind of police practice that is ‘inconsistent with the aims of a free and open society.’ The Alaska Constitution does not allow it.” |
| The case is significant because of the frequency with which this issue arises, especially with the development of drone technology. And the case is an important example of a state court rejecting the U.S. Supreme Court’s reasoning and protecting rights under its state constitution.For the complete report:State Court Report: 2024’s Most Significant State Constitutional Cases. |
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