Your home enjoys the highest level of Fourth Amendment protection against
government intrusion. Your car the least. So what happens when your home is your
car?
This question affects over one million Americans who currently live in vans, RVs,
trailers, and other vehicles, and their ranks are growing. Most Americans would be
surprised to learn that they enjoy greater privacy rights in a tent than if living in a
recreational vehicle (“RV”) or van, even if situated in the same campground.
This talk discusses the striking privacy vulnerability of the U.S.’s burgeoning vehicle-
dwelling population based on an analysis of fifty years of federal and state case law on searches of vehicular homes, and suggests several ways in which courts can and
should enhance vehicle dwellers’ privacy rights.
Presenter
Professor of Law and Arthur L. Dickson Scholar Professor Safrin earned her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at…