Winston v. Lee

The Court held that a compelled surgical intrusion into an individual’s body for evidence implicates substantial privacy and security issues. Such an intrusion may be unreasonable even if it is likely to produce evidence of a crime. The reasonableness of surgical intrusions beneath the skin depends on a case-by-case approach in which the court must weigh the individual’s interests against society’s interests in obtaining criminal evidence. The uncertainty about the medical risks, and the intrusion on the defendant’s privacy interests and body are severe. This must be counterbalanced by the government’s need to intrude into the defendant’s body to retrieve the bullet. As the government had available substantial additional evidence that the defendant was the criminal, its need to obtain the bullet was diminished.