Unscripted: Challenging the Open Fields Doctrine — Defending Property Rights and Privacy

In this week’s episode of Unscripted, Tyne Morgan and Clinton Griffiths are joined by Farm Journal’s master storyteller, Chris Bennett, and constitutional attorney Josh Windham for a powerful conversation on the growing tensions between property rights and government authority. At the center: the Open Fields doctrine—a nearly century-old legal loophole that allows warrantless searches on private land across 1.2 billion acres in the U.S. From hidden trail cameras to drone surveillance, they unpack how modern technology is colliding with outdated legal precedent.

Windham, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, explains how he’s using state constitutions to challenge these intrusions—arguing that it’s time to overturn the 1924 Hester decision and restore true Fourth Amendment protections.

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