4.Reasoning of The Court

This case set a precedent for future cases. Since the ruling it is now legal for law enforcement to look through a garbage bag left on the curb. A court case Katz vs. United States. Katz had placed no trespassing signs all over the property of his farm. Two police offers arrived at his farm acting on a tip that Katz was growing narcotics. In plain sight the officers were able to see that Katz did in fact have marijuana growing on his farm. Both of these cases have set a precedent for future court cases. The court ruled 6-2 against Greenwood. "What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection." Katz v. United States, supra, at 351. We held in Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735 1979 (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=486&invol=35. The Justices involved were: Rehnquist, White, Blackmun, Stevens, O’Conner, and Scalia. All voted against Billy Greenwood. Justices Brennan and Marshall voted for Billy Greenwoods defense. The justices concluded that garbage left willing on the curb is accessible to anyone including animals, children, scavengers, and police. The trash is not protected. The trash is meant to be picked up by a third party (the trash collector) who may also rummage through the items and if so hand them over to the police who may further their investigation."So far as Fourth Amendment protection is concerned, opaque plastic bags are every bit as [p49] worthy as "packages wrapped in green opaque plastic" and "double-locked footlocker[s]." Cf. Robbins, supra, at 441 (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting) (objecting to Court's discovery of reasonable expectation of privacy in contents of "two plastic garbage bags")." http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0486_0035_ZD.html
Justice explain that the bags were clear enough that anyone could have looked through them. If the contents were placed in a locked garbage can then then this would have justified a warrant. The defending Justice still pleads that the garbage was still personal property siding with the defedant. "A container which can support a reasonable expectation of privacy may not be searched, even on probable cause, without a warrant." Judge Brennan http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0486_0035_ZD.html