BERGER v. NEW YORK
No. 615
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 13, 1967. - Decided June 12, 1967.
388 U.S. 41
H. Richard Uviller argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Frank S. Hogan and Alan F. Scribner.
Briefs of amici curiae, urging reversal, were filed by Jack Grant Day and Gerald Zuckerman for the National Association of Defense Lawyers in Criminal Cases; by John J. McAvoy for the New York Civil Liberties Union, and by Raymond W. Bergan for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America.
Briefs of amici curiae, urging affirmance, were filed by Louis J. Lefkowitz, Attorney General, pro se, Samuel A. Hirshowitz, First Assistant Attorney General, and Amy Juviler, Assistant Attorney General, for the Attorney General of the State of New York, and by G. Robert Blakey for Elliot L. Richardson, Attorney General of Massachusetts, Robert Y. Thornton, Attorney General of Oregon, and the National District Attorneys’ Association.
This writ tests the validity of New York‘s permissive eavesdrop statute,
I.
Berger, the petitioner, was convicted on two counts of conspiracy to bribe the Chairman of the New York State Liquor Authority. The case arose out of the complaint of one Ralph Pansini to the District Attorney‘s office that agents of the State Liquor Authority had entered his bar and grill and without cause seized his books and records. Pansini asserted that the raid was in reprisal for his failure to pay a bribe for a liquor license. Numerous complaints had been filed with the District Attorney‘s office charging the payment of bribes by applicants for liquor licenses. On the direction of that office, Pansini, while equipped with a “minifon” recording device, interviewed an employee of the Authority. The employee advised Pansini that the price for a license was $10,000 and suggested that he contact attorney Harry Neyer. Neyer subsequently told Pansini that he worked with the Authority employee before and that the latter was aware of the going rate on liquor licenses downtown.
II.
Eavesdropping is an ancient practice which at common law was condemned as a nuisance. 4 Blackstone, Commentaries 168. At one time the eavesdropper listened by naked ear under the eaves of houses or their windows, or beyond their walls seeking out private discourse. The awkwardness and undignified manner of this method as well as its susceptibility to abuse was immediately recognized. Electricity, however, provided a better vehicle and with the advent of the telegraph surreptitious interception of messages began. As early as 1862 California found it necessary to prohibit the practice by statute. Statutes of California 1862, p. 288, CCLXII. During the Civil War General J. E. B. Stuart
The telephone brought on a new and more modern eavesdropper known as the “wiretapper.” Interception was made by a connection with a telephone line. This activity has been with us for three-quarters of a century. Like its cousins, wiretapping proved to be a commercial as well as a police technique. Illinois outlawed it in 1895 and in 1905 California extended its telegraph interception prohibition to the telephone. Some 50 years ago a New York legislative committee found that police, in cooperation with the telephone company, had been tapping telephone lines in New York despite an Act passed in 1895 prohibiting it. During prohibition days wiretaps were the principal source of information relied upon by the police as the basis for prosecutions. In 1934 the Congress outlawed the interception without authorization, and the divulging or publishing of the contents of wiretaps by passing
Sophisticated electronic devices have now been developed (commonly known as “bugs“) which are capable of
As science developed these detection techniques, lawmakers, sensing the resulting invasion of individual privacy, have provided some statutory protection for the public. Seven States, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, and Oregon, prohibit surreptitious eavesdropping by mechanical or electronic device.4 However, all save Illinois permit official court-
III.
The law, though jealous of individual privacy, has not kept pace with these advances in scientific knowledge. This is not to say that individual privacy has been relegated to a second-class position for it has been held since Lord Camden‘s day that intrusions into it are “subversive of all the comforts of society.” Entick v. Carrington, 19 How. St. Tr. 1029, 1066 (1765). And the Founders so decided a quarter of a century later when they declared in the Fourth Amendment that the people had a right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures....” Indeed, that right, they wrote, “shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Almost a century thereafter this Court took specific and lengthy notice of Entick v. Carrington, supra, finding that its holding was undoubtedly familiar to and “in the minds of those who framed the Fourth Amendment....” Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616, 626-627 (1886). And after quoting from Lord Camden‘s opinion at some length, Mr. Justice Bradley characterized it thus:
“The principles laid down in this opinion affect the very essence of constitutional liberty and security. They reach farther than the concrete form of the case . . . they apply to all invasions on the part of the government and its employés of the sanctity of a man‘s home and the privacies of life.” At 630.
The Amendment, however, carried no criminal sanction, and the federal statutes not affording one, the Court in 1914 formulated and pronounced the federal exclusionary rule in Weeks v. United States, 232 U. S. 383. Prohibiting the use in federal courts of any evidence seized in violation of the Amendment, the Court held:
“The effect of the Fourth Amendment is to put the courts of the United States . . . under limitations and restraints as to the exercise of such power . . . and to forever secure the people . . . against all unreasonable searches and seizures under the guise of law. This protection reaches all alike, whether accused of crime or not, and the duty of giving to it force and effect is obligatory upon all . . . . The tendency of those who execute the criminal laws of the country to obtain conviction by means of unlawful seizures . . . should find no sanction in the judgments of the courts which are charged at all times with the support of the Constitution and to which people of all conditions have a right to appeal for the maintenance of such fundamental rights.” At 391-392.
IV.
The Court was faced with its first wiretap case in 1928, Olmstead v. United States, 277 U. S. 438. There
The first “bugging” case reached the Court in 1942 in Goldman v. United States, 316 U. S. 129. There the Court found that the use of a detectaphone placed against an office wall in order to hear private conversations in the office next door did not violate the Fourth Amendment because there was no physical trespass in connection with the relevant interception. And in On Lee v. United States, 343 U. S. 747 (1952), we found that since “no trespass was committed” a conversation between On Lee and a federal agent, occurring in the former‘s laundry and electronically recorded, was not condemned by the Fourth Amendment. Thereafter in Silverman v. United States, 365 U. S. 505 (1961), the Court found “that the eavesdropping was accomplished by means of
In Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U. S. 471 (1963), the Court for the first time specifically held that verbal evidence may be the fruit of official illegality under the Fourth Amendment along with the more common tangible fruits of unwarranted intrusion. It used these words:
“The exclusionary rule has traditionally barred from trial physical, tangible materials obtained either during or as a direct result of an unlawful invasion. It follows from our holding in Silverman v. United States, 365 U. S. 505, that the Fourth Amendment may protect against the overhearing of verbal statements as well as against the more traditional seizure of ‘papers and effects.‘” At 485.
And in Lopez v. United States, 373 U. S. 427 (1963), the Court confirmed that it had “in the past sustained instances of ‘electronic eavesdropping’ against constitutional challenge, when devices have been used to enable government agents to overhear conversations which would have been beyond the reach of the human ear. . . . It has been insisted only that the electronic device not be planted by an unlawful physical invasion of a constitutionally protected area.” At 438-439. In
V.
It is now well settled that “the Fourth Amendment‘s right of privacy has been declared enforceable against the States through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth” Amendment. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643, 655 (1961). “The security of one‘s privacy against arbitrary intrusion by the police—which is at the core of the Fourth Amendment—is basic to a free society.” Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U. S. 25, 27 (1949). And its “fundamental protections are guaranteed . . . against invasion by the States.” Stanford v. Texas, 379 U. S. 476, 481 (1965). This right has most recently received enunciation in Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U. S. 523. “The basic purpose of this Amendment, as recognized in countless decisions of this Court, is to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by governmental officials.” At 528. Likewise the Court has decided that while the “standards of reasonableness” required under the Fourth Amendment are the same under the Fourteenth, they “are not susceptible of Procrustean application . . . .” Ker v. California, 374 U. S. 23, 33 (1963). We said there that “the reasonableness of a search is . . . [to be determined] by the trial court from the facts and circumstances of the case and in the light of the ‘fundamental criteria’ laid down by the Fourth Amendment and in opinions of this Court applying that Amendment.” Ibid.
While New York‘s statute satisfies the Fourth Amendment‘s requirement that a neutral and detached authority be interposed between the police and the public, Johnson v. United States, 333 U. S. 10, 14 (1948), the broad sweep of the statute is immediately observable. It permits the issuance of the order, or warrant for eavesdropping, upon the oath of the attorney general, the district attorney or any police officer above the rank of sergeant stating that “there is reasonable ground to believe that evidence of crime may be thus obtained . . . .” Such a requirement raises a serious
It is said, however, by the petitioner, and the State agrees, that the “reasonable ground” requirement of
The Fourth Amendment commands that a warrant issue not only upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, but also “particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” New York‘s statute lacks this particularization. It merely says that a warrant may issue on reasonable
We believe the statute here is equally offensive. First, as we have mentioned, eavesdropping is authorized without requiring belief that any particular offense has been or is being committed; nor that the “property”
VI.
It is said with fervor that electronic eavesdropping is a most important technique of law enforcement and that outlawing it will severely cripple crime detection. The monumental report of the President‘s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice entitled “The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society” informs us that the majority of law enforcement officials say that this is especially true in the detection of organized crime. As the Commission reports, there can be no question about the serious proportions of professional criminal activity in this country. However, we have found no empirical statistics on the use of electronic devices (bugging) in the fight against organized crime. Indeed, there are even figures available in the wiretap category which indicate to the contrary. See District Attorney Silver‘s Poll of New York Prosecutors, in Dash, Schwartz & Knowlton, The Eavesdroppers 105, 117-119
An often repeated statement of District Attorney Hogan of New York County was made at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at which he advocated the amendment of the
We are also advised by the Solicitor General of the United States that the Federal Government has abandoned the use of electronic eavesdropping for “prosecutorial purposes.” See Supplemental Memorandum, Schipani v. United States, No. 504, October Term, 1966, 385 U.S. 372. See also Black v. United States, 385 U.S. 26 (1966); O‘Brien v. United States, 386 U.S. 345 (1967); Hoffa v. United States, 387 U.S. 231 (1967); Markis v. United States, 387 U.S. 425; Moretti v. United States, 387 U.S. 425. Despite these actions of the Federal Government there has been no failure of law enforcement in that field.
AS THE CHIEF JUSTICE said in concurring in the result in Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427, “the fantastic advances in the field of electronic communication constitute a great danger to the privacy of the individual; . . . indiscriminate use of such devices in law enforcement raises grave constitutional questions under the
In any event we cannot forgive the requirements of the
It is said that neither a warrant nor a statute authorizing eavesdropping can be drawn so as to meet the
Reversed.
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, concurring.
I join the opinion of the Court because at long last it overrules sub silentio Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, and its offspring and brings wiretapping and other electronic eavesdropping fully within the purview of the
Yet there persists my overriding objection to electronic surveillance, viz., that it is a search for “mere evidence” which, as I have maintained on other occasions (Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, 349-354), is a violation of the
A discreet selective wiretap or electronic “bugging” is of course not rummaging around, collecting everything in the particular time and space zone. But even though it is limited in time, it is the greatest of all invasions of privacy. It places a government agent in the bedroom, in the business conference, in the social hour, in the
If a statute were to authorize placing a policeman in every home or office where it was shown that there was probable cause to believe that evidence of crime would be obtained, there is little doubt that it would be struck down as a bald invasion of privacy, far worse than the general warrants prohibited by the
The traditional wiretap or electronic eavesdropping device constitutes a dragnet, sweeping in all conversations within its scope—without regard to the participants or the nature of the conversations. It intrudes upon the privacy of those not even suspected of crime and intercepts the most intimate of conversations. Thus, in the Coplon case (United States v. Coplon, 91 F. Supp. 867, rev‘d, 191 F. 2d 749) wiretaps of the defendant‘s home and office telephones recorded conversations between the defendant and her mother, a quarrel between a husband and wife who had no connection with the case, and conferences between the defendant and her attorney concerning the preparation of briefs, testimony of government witnesses, selection of jurors and trial strategy. Westin, The Wire-Tapping Problem: An Analysis and a Legislative Proposal, 52 Col. L. Rev. 165, 170-171 (1952); Barth, The Loyalty of Free Men 173 (1951). It is also reported that the FBI incidentally learned about an affair, totally unrelated to espionage, between the defendant and a Justice Department attorney. Barth, supra, at 173. While tapping one telephone, police recorded conversations involving, at the other end, The Juilliard School of Music, Brooklyn Law School,
It is, of course, possible for a statute to provide that wiretap or electronic eavesdrop evidence is admissible only in a prosecution for the crime to which the showing of probable cause related. See
As my Brother WHITE says in his dissent, this same vice inheres in any search for tangible evidence such as invoices, letters, diaries, and the like. “In searching for seizable matters, the police must necessarily see or hear, and comprehend, items which do not relate to the purpose of the search.” That is precisely why the
With all respect, my Brother BLACK misses the point of the
The words that a man says consciously on a radio are public property. But I do not see how government using surreptitious methods can put a person on the radio and use his words to convict him. Under our regime a man stands mute if he chooses, or talks if he chooses. The test is whether he acts voluntarily. That is the essence of the face of privacy protected by the “mere evidence” rule. For the
That is the essence of my dissent in Hayden. In short, I do not see how any electronic surveillance that collects evidence or provides leads to evidence is or can be constitutional under the
MR. JUSTICE STEWART, concurring in the result.
I fully agree with MR. JUSTICE BLACK, MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, and MR. JUSTICE WHITE that this New York law is entirely constitutional. In short, I think that “electronic eavesdropping, as such or as it is permitted by this statute, is not an unreasonable search and seizure.”1 The statute contains many provisions more stringent than the
In order to hold this statute unconstitutional, therefore, we would have to either rewrite the statute or rewrite the Constitution. I can only conclude that the Court today seems to have rewritten both.
The issue before us, as MR. JUSTICE WHITE says, is “whether this search complied with
I would hold that the affidavits on which the judicial order issued in this case did not constitute a showing of probable cause adequate to justify the authorizing order. The need for particularity and evidence of reliability in the showing required when judicial authorization is sought for the kind of electronic eavesdropping involved in this case is especially great. The standard of reasonableness embodied in the
So far as the record shows, the only basis for the Steinman order consisted of two affidavits. One of them contained factual allegations supported only by bare, unexplained references to “evidence” in the district attorney‘s office and “evidence” obtained by the Neyer eavesdrop. No underlying facts were presented on the basis of which the judge could evaluate these general allegations. The second affidavit was no more than a statement of another assistant district attorney that he had read his associate‘s affidavit and was satisfied on that basis alone that proper grounds were presented for the issuance of an authorizing order.
MR. JUSTICE BLACK, dissenting.
New York has an eavesdropping statute which permits its judges to authorize state officers to place on other people‘s premises electronic devices that will overhear and record telephonic and other conversations for the purpose of detecting secret crimes and conspiracies and obtaining evidence to convict criminals in court. Judges cannot issue such eavesdropping permits except upon oath or affirmation of certain state officers that “there is reasonable ground to believe that evidence of crime may be thus obtained, and particularly describing the person or persons whose communications, conversations or discussions are to be overheard or recorded, and the purpose thereof. . . .”
I.
Perhaps as good a definition of eavesdropping as another is that it is listening secretly and sometimes “snoopily” to conversations and discussions believed to be private by those who engage in them. Needless to say, eavesdropping is not ranked as one of the most learned or most polite professions, nor perhaps would an eavesdropper be selected by many people as the most desirable and attractive associate. But the practice has undoubtedly gone on since the beginning of human society, and during that time it has developed a usefulness of its own, particularly in the detection and prosecution of crime.
Eavesdroppers have always been deemed competent witnesses in English and American courts. The main test of admissibility has been relevance and first-hand
Today this country is painfully realizing that evidence of crime is difficult for governments to secure. Criminals are shrewd and constantly seek, too often successfully, to conceal their tracks and their outlawry from law officers. But in carrying on their nefarious practices professional criminals usually talk considerably. Naturally, this talk is done, they hope, in a secret way that will keep it from being heard by law enforcement authorities or by others who might report to the authorities. In this situation “eavesdroppers,” “informers,” and “squealers,” as they are variously called, are helpful, even though unpopular, agents of law enforcement. And it needs no empirical studies or statistics to establish that eavesdropping testimony plays an important role in exposing criminals and bands of criminals who but for such evidence would go along their criminal way with little possibility of exposure, prosecution, or punishment. Such, of course, is this particular case before us.
The eavesdrop evidence here shows this petitioner to be a briber, a corrupter of trusted public officials, a poisoner of the honest administration of government, upon which good people must depend to obtain the blessings of a decent orderly society. No man‘s privacy, property, liberty, or life is secure, if organized or even unorganized criminals can go their way unmolested, ever
II.
Since eavesdrop evidence obtained by individuals is admissible and helpful I can perceive no permissible reason for courts to reject it, even when obtained surreptitiously by machines, electronic or otherwise. Certainly evidence picked up and recorded on a machine is not less trustworthy. In both perception and retention a machine is more accurate than a human listener. The machine does not have to depend on a defective memory to repeat what was said in its presence for it repeats the very words uttered. I realize that there is complaint that sometimes the words are jumbled or indistinct. But machine evidence need not be done away with to correct such occasional defective recording. The trial judge has ample power to refuse to admit indistinct or garbled recordings.
The plain facts are, however, that there is no inherent danger to a defendant in using these electronic record-
III.
The superior quality of evidence recorded and transcribed on an electronic device is, of course, no excuse for using it against a defendant, if, as the Court holds, its use violates the
There are constitutional amendments that speak in clear unambiguous prohibitions or commands. The
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Obviously, those who wrote this
Had the framers of this
In reaching my conclusion that the
The
Fourth Amendment forbids invasion of privacy and excludes evidence obtained by such invasion;To listen secretly to a man‘s conversations or to tap his telephone conversations invades his privacy;
Therefore, the
Fourth Amendment bars use of evidence obtained by eavesdropping or by tapping telephone wires.
The foregoing syllogism is faulty for at least two reasons: (1) the
IV.
While the electronic eavesdropping here bears some analogy to the problems with which the
“Justice Bradley in the Boyd case, and Justice Clark[e] in the Gouled case, said that the
Fifth Amendment and theFourth Amendment were to be liberally construed . . . . But that can not justify enlargement of the language employed beyond the possible practical meaning of houses, persons, papers, and effects, or so to apply the words search and seizure as to forbid hearing or sight.”
Though Olmstead has been severely criticized by various individual members of this Court, and though the Court stated an alternative ground for holding the
There is yet another reason why I would adhere to the holding of Olmstead that the
V.
Assuming, as the Court holds, that the
This case deals only with a trespassory eavesdrop, an eavesdrop accomplished by placing “bugging” devices in certain offices. Significantly, the Court does not purport to disturb the Olmstead-Silverman-Goldman distinction between eavesdrops which are accompanied by a physical invasion and those that are not. Neither does the Court purport to overrule the holdings of On Lee v. United States, 343 U.S. 747 (1952), and Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427 (1963), which exempt from the Amendment‘s requirements the use of an electronic device to record, and perhaps even transmit, a conversation to
I agree with my Brother WHITE that instead of looking for technical defects in the language of the New
The Court concludes its analysis of
- (1) New York judges are to issue authorizations. (The
Fourth Amendment does not command any such desirable judicial participation.) - (2) The judge must have an “oath” from New York officials. (The
Fourth Amendment does not specify who must execute the oath it requires.) - (3) The oath must state “reasonable ground to believe that evidence of crime may be thus obtained,” and the judge may examine the affiant and any other witnesses to make certain that this is the case. (The
Fourth Amendment requires a showing of “probable cause,” but the Court does not dispute New York‘s assertion that “reasonable ground” and “probable cause” are the same. The Amendment does not specify, as the New York statute does, a procedure by which the judge may “satisfy himself” of the existence of probable cause.) - (4) The “person or persons whose communications, conversations or discussions are to be overheard or recorded and the purpose thereof” must be particularly described. (In the case of conversation it would seem impossible to require a more particular description than this. Tangible things in existence at the time a warrant for their seizure is issued could be more particularly described, but the only way to describe future conversations is by a description of the anticipated subject matter of the conversation. When the “purpose” of the eavesdropping is stated, the subject of the conversation sought to be seized is readily recognizable. Nothing more was required in Osborn; nothing more should be required here.)
- (5) The eavesdrop order must be limited in time to no more than two months. (The
Fourth Amendment merely requires that the place to be searched be described. It does not require the warrant to limit the time of a search, and it imposes no limit, other than that of reasonableness, on the dimensions of the place to be searched.)
Thus, it seems impossible for the Court to condemn this statute on the ground that it lacks “adequate judicial supervision or protective procedures.” Rather, the only way the Court can invalidate it is to find it lacking in some of the safeguards which the Court today fashions without any reference to the language of the
It should now be clear that in order to strike down the New York law the Court has been compelled to rewrite completely the
VI.
As I see it, the differences between the Court and me in this case rest on different basic beliefs as to our duty in interpreting the Constitution. This basic charter of our Government was written in few words to define governmental powers generally on the one hand and to define governmental limitations on the other. I believe it is the Court‘s duty to interpret these grants and limitations so as to carry out as nearly as possible the original intent of the Framers. But I do not believe that it is our duty to go further than the Framers did on the theory that the judges are charged with responsibility for keeping the Constitution “up to date.” Of course, where the Constitution has stated a broad purpose to be accomplished under any circumstances, we must consider that modern science has made it necessary to use new means in accomplishing the Framers’ goal. A good illustration of this is the
Then again, a constitution like ours is not designed to be a full code of laws as some of our States and some foreign countries have made theirs. And if constitutional provisions require new rules and sanctions to make them as fully effective as might be desired, my belief is that calls for action, not by us, but by Congress or state legislatures, vested with powers to choose between conflicting policies. Here, for illustration, there are widely diverging views about eavesdropping. Some would make it a crime, barring it absolutely and in all events; others would bar it except in searching for evidence in the field of “national security,” whatever that means; still others would pass no law either authorizing or forbidding it, leaving it to follow its natural course. This is plainly the type of question that can and should be decided by legislative bodies, unless some constitutional provision expressly governs the matter, just as the
Both the States and the National Government are at present confronted with a crime problem that threatens the peace, order, and tranquility of the people. There are, as I have pointed out, some constitutional commands that leave no room for doubt—certain procedures must be followed by courts regardless of how much more difficult they make it to convict and punish for crime. These commands we should enforce firmly and to the letter. But my objection to what the Court does today is the picking out of a broad general provision against unreasonable searches and seizures and the erecting out of it a constitutional obstacle against electronic eavesdropping that makes it impossible for lawmakers to overcome. Honest men may rightly differ on the po-
MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, dissenting.
The Court in recent years has more and more taken to itself sole responsibility for setting the pattern of criminal law enforcement throughout the country. Time-honored distinctions between the constitutional protections afforded against federal authority by the
Today‘s decision is in this mold. Despite the fact that the use of electronic eavesdropping devices as instruments of criminal law enforcement is currently being comprehensively addressed by the Congress and various other bodies in the country, the Court has chosen, quite unnecessarily, to decide this case in a manner which will seriously restrict, if not entirely thwart, such efforts,
In my opinion what the Court is doing is very wrong, and I must respectfully dissent.
I.
I am, at the outset, divided from the majority by the way in which it has determined to approach the case. Without pausing to explain or to justify its reasoning, it has undertaken both to circumvent rules which have hitherto governed the presentation of constitutional issues to this Court, and to disregard the construction consistently attributed to a state statute by the State‘s own courts. Each of these omissions is, in my opinion, most unfortunate.
The Court declares, without further explanation, that since petitioner was “affected” by
If the statute is to be assessed on its face, the Court should at least adhere to the principle that, for purposes of assessing the validity under the Constitution of a state statute, the construction given the statute by the State‘s courts is conclusive of its scope and meaning. Fox v. Washington, 236 U.S. 273 (1915); Winters v. New York, 333 U.S. 507 (1948); Poulos v. New Hampshire, 345 U.S. 395 (1953). This principle is ultimately a consequence of the differences in function of the state and federal judicial systems. The strength with which it has hitherto been held may be estimated in part by the frequency with which the Court has in the past declined to adjudicate issues, often of great practical and constitutional importance, until the state courts “have been afforded a reasonable opportunity to pass upon them.” Harrison v. NAACP, 360 U.S. 167, 176 (1959). See, e. g., Railroad Comm‘n v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496 (1941); Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. McLaughlin, 323 U.S. 101 (1944); Shipman v. DuPre, 339 U.S. 321 (1950); Albertson v. Millard, 345 U.S. 242 (1953); Government Employees v. Windsor, 353 U.S. 364 (1957).
The Court today entirely disregards this principle. In its haste to give force to its distaste for eavesdropping, it has apparently resolved that no attention need be given to the construction of
II.
The Court‘s precipitate neglect of the New York cases is the more obviously regrettable when their terms are examined, for they make quite plain that the state courts have fully recognized the applicability of the relevant federal constitutional requirements, and that they have construed
There is still additional evidence that the State fully recognizes the applicability to eavesdropping orders of the
New York‘s permissive eavesdropping statute must, for purposes of assessing its constitutional validity on its face, be read “as though” this judicial gloss had been “written into” it. Poulos v. New Hampshire, supra, at 402. I can only conclude that, so read, the statute incorporates as limitations upon its employment the requirements of the
III.
The Court has frequently observed that the
At the least, reasonableness surely implies that this Court must not constrain in any grudging fashion the development of procedures, consistent with the Amendment‘s essential purposes, by which methods of search and seizure unknown in 1789 may be appropriately con-
I turn to what properly is the central issue in this case: the validity under the Warrants Clause of the
The disputed recordings were made under the authority of a
The second affidavit, signed by Assistant District Attorney Scotti, averred that Scotti, as the Chief of the Bureau to which Goldstein was assigned, had read Goldstein‘s affidavit, and had concluded that the order might properly issue under
The order as issued permitted the recording of “any and all conversations, communications and discussions” in Steinman‘s business office for a period of 60 days.
The central objections mounted to this order by petitioner, and repeated as to the statute itself by the Court, are three: first, that it fails to specify with adequate particularity the conversations to be seized; second, that it permits a general and indiscriminate search and seizure; and third, that the order was issued without a showing of probable cause.4
Each of the first two objections depends principally upon a problem of definition: the meaning in this context of the constitutional distinction between “search” and “seizure.” If listening alone completes a “seizure,” it would be virtually impossible for state authorities at a probable cause hearing to describe with particularity the seizures which would later be made during extended eavesdropping; correspondingly, seizures would unavoidably be made which lacked any sufficient nexus with the
The “particularity” demanded by the
The materials to be seized are instead described with sufficient particularity if the warrant readily permits their identification both by those entrusted with the warrant‘s execution and by the court in any subsequent judicial proceeding. “It is,” the Court has said with reference to the particularity of the place to be searched, “enough if the description is such that the officer . . . can with reasonable effort ascertain and identify” the warrant‘s objects. Steele v. United States No. 1, 267 U.S. 498, 503 (1925).
These standards must be equally applicable to the seizure of words, and, under them, this order did not lack the requisite particularity. The order here permitted the interception, or search, of any and all conversations occurring within the order‘s time limitations at the specified location; but this direction must be read in light of the terms of the affidavits, which, under
Nor was the order invalid because it permitted the search of any and all conversations occurring at the specified location; if the requisite papers have identified the materials to be seized with sufficient particularity, as they did here, and if the search was confined to an appropriate area, the order is not invalidated by the examination of all within that area reasonably necessary for discovery of the materials to be seized. I do not doubt that searches by eavesdrop must be confined in time precisely as the search for tangibles is confined in space, but the actual duration of the intrusion here, or for that matter the total period authorized by the order, was not, given the character of the offenses involved, excessive. All the disputed evidence was obtained within 13 days, scarcely unreasonable in light of an alleged conspiracy involving many individuals and a lengthy series of transactions.
The question therefore remains only whether, as petitioner suggests, the order was issued without an adequate showing of probable cause. The standards for the measurement of probable cause have often been explicated in the opinions of this Court; see, e. g., United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102 (1965); its suffices now simply to emphasize that the information presented to the magistrate or commissioner must permit him to “judge for himself the persuasiveness of the facts relied on by a complaining officer.” Giordenello v. United States, 357 U.S. 480, 486 (1958). The magistrate must “assess independently the probability” that the facts are as the
As measured by the terms of the affidavits here, the issuing judge could properly have concluded that probable cause existed for the order. Unlike the situations in Nathanson v. United States, 290 U. S. 41, and Giordenello v. United States, supra, the judge was provided the evidence which supported the affiants’ conclusions; he was not compelled to rely merely on their “affirmation of suspicion and belief,” Nathanson v. United States, supra, at 46. Compare Rugendorf v. United States, 376 U. S. 528; Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U. S. 108. In my opinion, taking the Steinman affidavits on their face, the constitutional requirements of probable cause were fully satisfied.
V.
It is, however, plain that the Steinman order was issued principally upon the basis of evidence obtained under the authority of the Neyer order; absent the Neyer eavesdropped evidence, the Steinman affidavits consist entirely of conclusory assertions, and they would, in my judgment, be insufficient. It is, therefore, also necessary to examine the Neyer order.
The threshold issue is whether petitioner has standing to challenge the validity under the Constitution of the Neyer order. Standing to challenge the constitutional validity of a search and seizure has been an issue of some difficulty and uncertainty;5 it has, nevertheless, hitherto been thought to hinge, not upon the use against the challenging party of evidence seized during the
The record before us does not indicate with precision what information was obtained under the Neyer order, but it appears, and petitioner does not otherwise assert, that petitioner was never present in Neyer‘s office during the period in which eavesdropping was conducted. There is, moreover, no suggestion that petitioner had any property interest in the premises in which the eavesdropping device was installed. Apart from the use of evidence obtained under the Neyer order to justify issuance of the Steinman order, under which petitioner‘s privacy was assuredly invaded, petitioner is linked with activities under the Neyer order only by one fleeting and ambiguous reference in the record.
In a pretrial hearing conducted on a motion to suppress the Steinman recordings, counsel for the State briefly described the materials obtained under the Neyer order. Counsel indicated that
“Mr. Neyer then has conversations with Mr. Steinman and other persons. In the course of some of these conversations, we have one-half of a telephone call, of several telephone calls between Mr. Neyer and a person he refers to on the telephone as Mr. Berger; and in the conversation with Mr. Berger Mr. Neyer discusses also the obtaining of a liquor license for the Palladium and mentions the fact that this is going to be a big one.”
“That‘s right, your Honor. I am not—I think evidence can be brought out during the trial that Berger, who Mr. Steinman, Mr. Neyer speaks to concerning the Palladium, is, in fact, the defendant Ralph Berger.”
However oblique this invasion of petitioner‘s personal privacy might at first seem, it would entirely suffice, in my view, to afford petitioner standing to challenge the validity of the Neyer order. It is surely without significance in these circumstances that petitioner did not conduct the conversation from a position physically within the room in which the device was placed; the fortuitousness of his location can matter no more than if he had been present for a conference in Neyer‘s office, but had not spoken, or had been seated beyond the limits of the device‘s hearing. The central question should properly be whether his privacy has been violated by the search; it is enough for this purpose that he participated in a discussion into which the recording intruded. Standing should not, in any event, be made an insuperable barrier which unnecessarily deprives of an adequate remedy those whose rights have been abridged; to impose distinctions of excessive refinement upon the doctrine “would not comport with our justly proud claim of the procedural protections accorded to those charged with crime.” Jones v. United States, supra, at 267. It would instead “permit a quibbling distinction to overturn a principle which was designed to protect a fundamental right.” United States v. Jeffers, 342 U. S. 48, 52. I would conclude that, under the circumstances here, the recording of a portion of a telephone conversation to which peti
Given petitioner‘s standing under federal law to challenge the validity of the Neyer order, I would conclude that such order was issued without an adequate showing of probable cause. It seems quite plain, from the facts described by the State, that at the moment the Neyer order was sought the Rackets Bureau indeed had ample information to justify the issuance of an eavesdropping order. Nonetheless, the affidavits presented at the Neyer hearing unaccountably contained only the most conclusory allegations of suspicion. The record before us is silent on whether additional information might have been orally presented to the issuing judge.7 Under these circumstances, I am impelled to the view that the judge lacked sufficient information to permit him to assess the circumstances as a “neutral and detached magistrate,” Johnson v. United States, 333 U. S. 10, 14, and accordingly that the Neyer order was impermissible.
VI.
It does not follow, however, that evidence obtained under the Neyer order could not properly have been
I find nothing in the terms or purposes of the rule which demands the invalidation, under the circumstances at issue here, of the Steinman order. The state authorities appeared, as the statute requires, before a judicial official, and held themselves ready to provide information to justify the issuance of an eavesdropping order. The necessary evidence was at hand, and there was apparently no reason for the State to have preferred that it not be given to the issuing judge. The Neyer order is thus invalid simply as a consequence of the
I would hold that where, as here, authorities have obtained a warrant in a judicial proceeding untainted by fraud, a second warrant issued on the authority of evidence gathered under the first is not invalidated by a subsequent finding that the first was issued without a showing of probable cause.
VII.
It follows that the Steinman order was, as a matter of constitutional requirement, validly issued, that the recordings obtained under it were properly admitted at petitioner‘s trial, and, accordingly, that his conviction must be affirmed.8
With all due respect, I dissent from the majority‘s decision which unjustifiably strikes down “on its face” a 1938 New York statute applied by state officials in securing petitioner‘s conviction. In addition, I find no violation of petitioner‘s constitutional rights and I would affirm.
I.
At petitioner‘s trial for conspiring to bribe the Chairman of the New York State Liquor Authority, the prosecution introduced tape recordings obtained through an eavesdrop of the office of Harry Steinman which had been authorized by court order pursuant to
Two of petitioner‘s theories are easily answered. First, surreptitious electronic recording of conversations among private persons, and introduction of the recording during a criminal trial, do not violate the
Petitioner primarily argues that eavesdropping is invalid, even pursuant to court order or search warrant, because it constitutes a “general search” barred by the
This case boils down, therefore, to the question of whether
I turn to the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the one eavesdrop order which petitioner has “standing” to challenge. On June 11, 1962, Assistant District Attorney David Goldstein filed an affidavit before Judge Joseph Sarafite of the New York County Court of General Sessions requesting a court order under
Goldstein‘s affidavit described with “particularity” what crime Goldstein believed was being committed; it requested authority to search one specific room; it described the principal object of the search—Steinman and his co-conspirators—and the specific conversations
The Court, however, seems irresistibly determined to strike down the New York statute. The majority criticizes the ex parte nature of
II.
Unregulated use of electronic surveillance devices by law enforcement officials and by private parties poses a grave threat to the privacy and security of our citizens. As the majority recognizes, New York is one of a handful of States that have reacted to this threat by enacting legislation that limits official use of all such devices to situations where designated officers obtain judicial authorization to eavesdrop. Except in these States, there is a serious lack of comprehensive and sensible legislation in this field, a need that has been noted by many, including the President‘s prestigious Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (the “Crime Commission“) in its just-published reports.3 Bills have been introduced at this session of Congress to fill this legislative gap, and extensive hearings are in progress before the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and before Subcommittee No. 5 of the House Committee on the Judiciary.
The grant of certiorari in this case has been widely noted, and our decision can be expected to have a substantial impact on the current legislative consideration of these issues. Today‘s majority does not, in so many words, hold that all wiretapping and eavesdropping are constitutionally impermissible. But by transparent indirection it achieves practically the same result by striking down the New York statute and imposing a series of requirements for legalized electronic surveillance that will be almost impossible to satisfy.
In so doing, the Court ignores or discounts the need for wiretapping authority and incredibly suggests that there has been no breakdown of federal law enforcement despite the unavailability of a federal statute legalizing electronic surveillance. The Court thereby impliedly disagrees with the carefully documented reports of the Crime Commission which, contrary to the Court‘s intimations, underline the serious proportions of professional
The Court also seeks support in the fact that the Federal Government does not now condone electronic eavesdropping. But here the Court is treading on treacherous ground.4 It is true that the Department of Justice has now disowned the relevant findings and recommendations of the Crime Commission, see Hearings on H. R. 5386 before Subcommittee No. 5 of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., ser. 3, at 308 (1967) (hereafter cited as “House Hearings“),
There are several interesting aspects to this proposed national security exemption in light of the Court‘s opinion. First, there is no limitation on the President‘s power to delegate his authority, and it seems likely that at least the Attorney General would exercise it. House Hearings, at 302. Second, the national security exception would reach cases like sabotage and investigations of organizations controlled by a foreign government. For example, wiretapping to prove an individual is a member of the Communist Party, it is said, would be permissible under the statute. House Hearings, at 292. Third, information from authorized surveillance in the national security area would not be admissible in evidence; to the contrary, the surveillance would apparently be for investigative and informational use only, not for
But I do not think the views of the Executive should be dispositive of the broader
“The judicially supervised system under which we operate has worked. It has served efficiently to protect the rights, liberties, property, and general welfare of the law-abiding members of our community. It has permitted us to undertake major investigations of organized crime. Without it, and I confine myself to top figures in the underworld, my own office could not have convicted Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano, Jimmy Hines, Louis ‘Lepke’ Buchalter, Jacob ‘Gurrah’ Shapiro, Joseph ‘Socks’ Lanza, George Scalise, Frank Erickson, John ‘Dio’ Dioguardi, and Frank Carbo. Joseph ‘Adonis’ Doto,
who was tried in New Jersey, was convicted and deported on evidence supplied by our office and obtained by assiduously following leads secured through wiretapping.” Hearings on S. 2813 before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 87th Cong., 2d Sess., at 173 (1962).
To rebut such evidence of the reasonableness of regulated use of official eavesdropping, the Court presents only outdated statistics on the use of
In any event, I do not consider this case a proper vehicle for resolving all of these broad constitutional and legislative issues raised by the problem of official use of wiretapping and eavesdropping. I would hold only that electronic surveillance was a reasonable investigative tool to apply in uncovering corruption among high state officials, compare Osborn v. United States, 385 U. S. 323, that the
Excerpt from “The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society,” A Report by the President‘s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, at 200-203 (1967).
A NATIONAL STRATEGY AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME
Law enforcement‘s way of fighting organized crime has been primitive compared to organized crime‘s way of operating. Law enforcement must use methods at least as efficient as organized crime‘s. The public and law enforcement must make a full-scale commitment to destroy the power of organized crime groups. The Commission‘s program indicates ways to implement that commitment.
PROOF OF CRIMINAL VIOLATION
The previous section has described the difficulties that law enforcement agencies meet in trying to prove the participation of organized crime family members in criminal acts. Although earlier studies indicated a need for new substantive criminal laws, the Commission believes that on the Federal level, and in most State jurisdictions where organized crime exists, the major problem relates to matters of proof rather than inadequacy of substantive criminal laws, as the latter—for the most part—are reasonably adequate to deal with organized crime activity. The laws of conspiracy have provided an effective substantive tool with which to confront the criminal groups. From a legal standpoint, organized crime continues to grow because of defects in the evidence-gathering process. Under present procedures, too few witnesses have been produced to prove the link between criminal group members and the illicit activities that they sponsor.
The Commission recommends:
At least one investigative grand jury should be impaneled annually in each jurisdiction that has major organized crime activity.
If a grand jury shows the court that its business is unfinished at the end of a normal term, the court should extend that term a reasonable time in order to allow the grand jury to complete pending investigations. Judicial dismissal of grand juries with unfinished business should be appealable by the prosecutor and provision made for suspension of such dismissal orders during the appeal.
The automatic convening of these grand juries would force less than diligent investigators and prosecutors to explain their inaction. The grand jury should also have recourse when not satisfied with such explanations.
The Commission recommends:
The grand jury should have the statutory right of appeal to an appropriate executive official, such as an attorney general or governor, to replace local prosecutors or investigators with special counsel or special investigators appointed only in relation to matters that they or the grand jury deem appropriate for investigation.
Immunity. A general immunity statute as proposed in chapter 5 on the courts is essential in organized crime investigations and prosecutions. There is evidence to indicate that the availability of immunity can overcome the wall of silence that so often defeats the efforts of law enforcement to obtain live witnesses in organized crime cases. Since the activities of criminal groups involve such a broad scope of criminal violations, immunity provisions covering this breadth of illicit actions are necessary to secure the testimony of uncooperative or criminally involved witnesses. Once granted immunity from prosecution based upon their testimony, such witnesses must testify before the grand jury and at trial, or face jail for contempt of court.
Federal, State, and local coordination of immunity grants, and approval by the jurisdiction‘s chief law enforcement officer before immunity is granted, are crucial in organized crime investigations. Otherwise, without such coordination and approval, or through corruption of officials, one jurisdiction might grant immunity to someone about to be arrested or indicted in another jurisdiction.
The Commission recommends:
A general witness immunity statute should be enacted at Federal and State levels, providing immunity sufficiently broad to assure compulsion of testimony. Immunity should be granted only with the prior approval of the jurisdiction‘s chief prosecuting officer. Efforts to coordinate Federal, State, and local immunity grants should be made to prevent interference with existing investigations.
The Commission recommends:
Congress and the States should abolish the rigid two-witness and direct-evidence rules in perjury prosecutions, but retain the requirement of proving an intentional false statement.
WIRETAPPING AND EAVESDROPPING
In connection with the problems of securing evidence against organized crime, the Commission considered issues relating to electronic surveillance, including wiretapping and “bugging“—the secret installation of mechanical devices at specific locations to receive and transmit conversations.
Significance to Law Enforcement. The great majority of law enforcement officials believe that the evidence necessary to bring criminal sanctions to bear consistently on the higher echelons of organized crime will not be obtained without the aid of electronic surveillance techniques. They maintain these techniques are indispensable to develop adequate strategic intelligence concerning organized crime, to set up specific investigations, to develop witnesses, to corroborate their testimony, and to serve as substitutes for them—each a necessary step in
As previously noted, the organizational structure and operational methods employed by organized crime have created unique problems for law enforcement. High-ranking organized crime figures are protected by layers of insulation from direct participation in criminal acts, and a rigid code of discipline inhibits the development of informants against them. A soldier in a family can complete his entire crime career without ever associating directly with his boss. Thus, he is unable, even if willing, to link the boss directly to any criminal activity in which he may have engaged for their mutual benefit. Agents and employees of an organized crime family, even when granted immunity from prosecution, cannot implicate the highest level figures, since frequently they have neither spoken to, nor even seen them.
Members of the underworld, who have legitimate reason to fear that their meetings might be bugged or their telephones tapped, have continued to meet and to make relatively free use of the telephone—for communication is essential to the operation of any business enterprise. In legitimate business this is accomplished with written and oral exchanges. In organized crime enterprises, however, the possibility of loss or seizure of an incriminating document demands a minimum of written communication. Because of the varied character of organized criminal enterprises, the large numbers of persons employed in them, and frequently the distances separating elements of the organization, the telephone remains an essential vehicle for communication. While discussions of business matters are held on a face-to-face basis whenever possible, they are never conducted in the presence of strangers. Thus, the content of these conversations, including the planning of new illegal activity, and transmission of policy decisions or operating instruc
District Attorney Frank S. Hogan, whose New York County office has been acknowledged for over 27 years as one of the country‘s most outstanding, has testified that electronic surveillance is:
the single most valuable weapon in law enforcement‘s fight against organized crime .... It has permitted us to undertake major investigations of organized crime. Without it, and I confine myself to top figures in the underworld, my own office could not have convicted Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Jimmy Hines, Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro, Joseph “Socks” Lanza, George Scalise, Frank Erickson, John “Dio” Dioguardi, and Frank Carbo ....
Over the years New York has faced one of the Nation‘s most aggravated organized crime problems. Only in New York have law enforcement officials achieved some level of continuous success in bringing prosecutions against organized crime. For over 20 years, New York has authorized wiretapping on court order. Since 1957, bugging has been similarly authorized. Wiretapping was the mainstay of the New York attack against organized crime until Federal court decisions intervened. Recently chief reliance in some offices has been placed on bugging, where the information is to be used in court. Law enforcement officials believe that the successes achieved in some parts of the State are attributable primarily to a combination of dedicated and competent personnel and adequate legal tools; and that the failure to do more in New York has resulted primarily from the failure to commit additional resources of time and men. The
In New York at one time, Court supervision of law enforcement‘s use of electronic surveillance was sometimes perfunctory, but the picture has changed substantially under the impact of pretrial adversary hearings on motions to suppress electronically seized evidence. Fifteen years ago there was evidence of abuse by low-rank policemen. Legislative and administrative controls, however, have apparently been successful in curtailing its incidence.
The Threat to Privacy. In a democratic society privacy of communication is essential if citizens are to think and act creatively and constructively. Fear or suspicion that one‘s speech is being monitored by a stranger, even without the reality of such activity, can have a seriously inhibiting effect upon the willingness to voice critical and constructive ideas. When dissent from the popular view is discouraged, intellectual controversy is smothered, the process for testing new concepts and ideas is hindered and desirable change is slowed. External restraints, of which electronic surveillance is but one possibility, are thus repugnant to citizens of such a society.
Today, in addition to some law enforcement agents, numerous private persons are utilizing these techniques. They are employed to acquire evidence for domestic relations cases, to carry on industrial espionage and counterespionage, to assist in preparing for civil litigation, and for personnel investigations, among others. Technological advances have produced remarkably sophisticated devices, of which the electronic cocktail olive is illustrative, and continuing price reductions have expanded their markets. Nor has man‘s ingenuity in the development of surveillance equipment been exhausted with the design
Detection of surveillance devices is difficult, particularly where an installation is accomplished by a skilled agent. Isolated instances where equipment is discovered in operation therefore do not adequately reflect the volume of such activity; the effectiveness of electronic surveillance depends in part upon investigators who do not discuss their activities. The current confusion over the legality of electronic surveillance compounds the assessment problem since many agents feel their conduct may be held unlawful and are unwilling to report their activities. It is presently impossible to estimate with any accuracy the volume of electronic surveillance conducted today. The Commission is impressed, however, with the opinions of knowledgeable persons that the incidence of electronic surveillance is already substantial and increasing at a rapid rate.
Present Law and Practice. In 1928 the U. S. Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained by wiretapping a defendant‘s telephone at a point outside the defendant‘s premises was admissible in a Federal criminal prosecution. The Court found no unconstitutional search and seizure under the
Law enforcement experience with bugging has been much more recent and more limited than the use of the traditional wiretap. The legal situation with respect to bugging is also different. The regulation of the national telephone communication network falls within recognized national powers, while legislation attempting to authorize the placing of electronic equipment even under a warrant system would break new and uncharted ground. At the present time there is no Federal legislation explicitly dealing with bugging. Since the decision of the Supreme Court in Silverman v. United States, 365 U. S. 505 (1961), use of bugging equipment that involves an unauthorized physical entry into a constitutionally protected private area violates the
The confusion that has arisen inhibits cooperation between State and Federal law enforcement agencies because of the fear that information secured in one investigation will legally pollute another. For example, in New York City prosecutors refuse to divulge the contents of wire communications intercepted pursuant to State court orders because of the Federal proscription but do utilize evidence obtained by bugging pursuant
Despite the clear Federal prohibition against disclosure of wiretap information no Federal prosecutions of State officers have been undertaken, although prosecutions of State officers under State laws have occurred.
One of the most serious consequences of the present state of the law is that private parties and some law enforcement officers are invading the privacy of many citizens without control from the courts and reasonable legislative standards. While the Federal prohibition is a partial deterrent against divulgence, it has no effect on interception, and the lack of prosecutive action against violators has substantially reduced respect for the law.
The present status of the law with respect to wiretapping and bugging is intolerable. It serves the interests neither of privacy nor of law enforcement. One way or the other, the present controversy with respect to electronic surveillance must be resolved.
The Commission recommends:
Congress should enact legislation dealing specifically with wiretapping and bugging.
All members of the Commission agree on the difficulty of striking the balance between law enforcement benefits from the use of electronic surveillance and the threat to privacy its use may entail. Further, striking this balance presents important constitutional questions now pending before the U. S. Supreme Court in People v. Berger, and any congressional action should await the outcome of that case.
All members of the Commission believe that if authority to employ these techniques is granted it must be granted only with stringent limitations. One form of detailed regulatory statute that has been suggested to
A majority of the members of the Commission believe that legislation should be enacted granting carefully circumscribed authority for electronic surveillance to law enforcement officers to the extent it may be consistent with the decision of the Supreme Court in People v. Berger, and, further, that the availability of such specific authority would significantly reduce the incentive for, and the incidence of, improper electronic surveillance.
The other members of the Commission have serious doubts about the desirability of such authority and believe that without the kind of searching inquiry that would result from further congressional consideration of electronic surveillance, particularly of the problems of bugging, there is insufficient basis to strike this balance against the interests of privacy.
Matters affecting the national security not involving criminal prosecution are outside the Commission‘s mandate, and nothing in this discussion is intended to affect the existing powers to protect that interest.
Notes
“In the course of some of these conversations [recorded by the Neyer eavesdrop], we have one-half of a telephone call, of several telephone calls between Mr. Neyer and a person he refers to on the telephone as Mr. Berger; and in the conversation with Mr. Berger Mr. Neyer discusses also the obtaining of a liquor license for the Palladium and mentions the fact that this is going to be a big one.” R., at 27.
Petitioner made no argument, and offered no evidence, at the suppression hearing that the alleged Neyer-Berger phone conversation provided the State with evidence that was used to secure the Steinman eavesdrop order.