Once you dump something in a trash container that's accessible to multiple households, you have voluntarily relinquished any claim to ownership.
Of course people have tried before to claim 4th amendment violations in this context -- usually an apartment complex's contract dumpster that's on private property. It doesn't work around here, and I don't expect it works much of anywhere, because there's no expectation of privacy in stuff you have thrown away and don't expect to get back.
I also think < j/k > that there should be an exception to ANY privacy claim for "Capital Stupidity". Which these ACORN people have, definitely. Haven't they ever heard of a shredder? Or probably just too lazy to feed all that stuff through. Sheesh!
That’s racism! They are too industrious enough to shred documents! They’ll just get rid of a few bad eggs who violated ACORN policies of how to get rid of incriminating documents.
Maybe they were worried that shredding would take too long. It could be that they got a heads-up that there was an investigation coming, and they panicked.