Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich’s article,  “The Rapid Rise of Delayed Notice Searches, and the Fourth Amendment ‘Rule Requiring Notice,'” published in the Pepperdine Law Review article on “sneak and peek” searches was highlighted and extensively quoted on October 31 by Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy (available here).

Professor Kerr notes a recent report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the rise in “sneak and peek” searches.  Professor Kerr then quotes from Professor Witmer-Rich’s article to explain that the data the EFF is using is likely misleading.  He concludes:  “It may be that the number of sneak-and-peek warrants is up, and perhaps up a lot. But, unfortunately, we don’t know that either way. As Professor Witmer-Rich says, the reporting requirement appears to be broken.”