Potter Stewart

“ Mr. Justice White has elsewhere made clear his view that such surveillance does not violate the Fourth Amendment, 'if the President of the United States or his chief legal officer, the Attorney General, has considered the requirements of national security and authorized electronic surveillance as reasonable.' [2] While two members of the Court have indicated disagreement with that view, [3] the issue remains open. [4]
One might suppose that all of this should be entirely clear to any careful reader of the Court's opinion in Alderman, Butenko, and Ivanov. ”

“ We did not decide in those cases, and we do not decide in these, that any of the surveillances did violate the Fourth Amendment. [1] Instead, we have left that threshold question for the District Courts to decide in all these cases. ”