Kyllo+v.+United+States

Background: The cops were suspicious that Kyllo was in possession of marijuana. So they used a thermal imaging device to view the heat coming off of his house. They noticed an unusual amount of heat coming from his garage compared to the other houses in the neighborhood. The cops got a warrant to search his garage where they found Kyllo was growing marijuana. So Kyllo went to court where he made a conditional guilty plea, then the case went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court came to a conclusion that the cops did not have the right to use the thermal imaging device and found Kyllo not guilty.

Majority opinion: The Supreme Court found Kyllo not guilty in a 5-4 decision because it violated his fourth amendment rights. Minority opinion: The 4 Justices on the Supreme Court that voted against over turning the conviction believed that the thermal imaging device didn't violate Kyllo's 4th amendment rights because it didn't physically intrude on Kyllo's privacy.