Which landmark case addressed government intrusion into a person's reasonable expectation of privacy, establishing the REP concept?

• A. Olmstead
• B. Katz
• C. Search
• D. REP

Answer: (B)

The key idea being tested is the reasonable expectation of privacy (REP). Katz is the landmark case that defines this concept. In Katz v. United States (1967), the Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places, and that government tapping of a private phone call violated the Fourth Amendment because the speaker had a reasonable expectation of privacy in that conversation. The Court explained a two-part test for REP: you must have a subjective expectation of privacy, and that expectation must be one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable. This shifted privacy protection from a purely location-based, trespass framework to a privacy-based standard that covers conversations and activities where individuals reasonably expect privacy, even in public or semi-public settings.

This also clarifies why earlier rulings like Olmstead aren’t the right fit for establishing REP. Olmstead focused on physical trespass and property rights rather than an individual's privacy expectations, so it didn’t articulate the REP concept. The other options aren’t landmark cases defining REP; they don’t address establishing REP in the way Katz does.