Scholarship: "The Story of United States v. United States District Court (Keith): The Surveillance Power"

"The Story of United States v. United States District Court (Keith): The Surveillance Power" Chapter in Presidential Power Stories, Christopher H. Schroeder & Curtis A. Bradley, eds., Foundation Press, 2008, by Trevor W. Morrison (Columbia Law School). This chapter tells the story of the Keith case, the Supreme Court's first and still most important statement on the extent to which the President may authorize the electronic surveillance of persons within the United States.  The federal government used warrantless wiretaps to investigate the radical White Panther Party for the bombing of a CIA office. The Court concluded that Fourth Amendment freedoms cannot properly be guaranteed if domestic security surveillance may be conducted solely within the discretion of the Executive Branch; a judicial warrant must issue before the government may engage in electronic surveillance of domestic threats to national security. HT to National Security Advisors.