In July 2010, the ACLU and the ACLU of New Jersey filed a lawsuit on behalf of an innocent Camden, New Jersey man, Joel Barnes, who was jailed for more than a year as the result of having drugs planted on him by police officers later implicated in a large-scale evidence-planting conspiracy affecting nearly 200 other Camden residents. Mr. Barnes is seeking compensatory damages, as well as injunctive relief designed to prevent such conduct among Camden police officers from occurring in the future.

In June 2011, the ACLU, ACLU of Vermont and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a brief urging the Vermont Supreme Court to reject demands by local prosecutors to override warrant restrictions imposed by the court and allow a limitless search of a personal computer.

Whether, absent an emergency, the Fourth Amendment permits the police to enter a home without a warrant based on an informant's signal that criminal activity is taking place inside. DECIDED

This case reviews whether the Fourth Amendment permits a police officer to search a parolee on the public streets without any basis for suspicion. DECIDED