The Digital Fourth Amendment is written by Professor Orin Kerr, one of the country’s foremost authorities on the Fourth Amendment, electronic privacy, and criminal procedure.1 Kerr’s work has been deeply influential in shaping how courts are looking at and deciding issues raised by law enforcement’s powerful and novel capabilities, thanks to technological changes.2 He has written “more than 80 law review articles, more than half of which have been cited in judicial opinions, including eight articles referenced in U.S. Supreme Court decisions.”3
While Kerr started his career at the Department of Justice, it would be inaccurate to say that he brings a strictly pro–law enforcement attitude to the conversation. Kerr knows that technology has generally been a boon for law enforcement and has put the public’s privacy rights at a disadvantage (p. 39). The primary purpose of his book is to argue that courts should interpret the Fourth Amendment to account for this shift in the balance of power (p. 42). In several of his recommendations, Kerr would adopt stronger constitutional protections, even when this position would disadvantage law enforcement compared to the current status quo.4 He has provided model briefs for defendants seeking to suppress social-media evidence that the government forced providers to copy and preserve without first getting a warrant.5 And he has sometimes sided with defendants in criminal cases.6 His work is cautious and conservative (p. 43),7 and courts respect that, regardless of which side of the “v” Kerr’s name appears on.
Read full review at the Harvard Law Review
- Date Published:February 2026
- Original Publication: Harvard Law Review