It’s the year 2017 and the Supreme Court must decide whether to overturn the conviction of a child trafficker. The defendant, a British foreign national, claims his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when investigating FBI agents hacked into the United Kingdom’s DNA databank and obtained his genetic profile.

What sounds like the plot to the latest science fiction thriller is actually a case written by students of Professor Kermit Roosevelt for a futuristic moot Supreme Court session at the National Constitution Center in March. As part of the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution, the session tested the Constitution’s ability to offer protections against abuses of our rapidly-advancing technology. The project, named in honor of the late ABC news anchor, aims to foster a deeper understanding of the Constitution and its role in American life.

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