Wednesday, November 13, 2019

District Judge rules border search of cell phone must be based on reasonable suspicion

Unfortunately this major decision isn't from our District. It's from the District of Massachusetts. Here's the ruling.

From Forbes:
A Boston federal court ruled Tuesday that U.S. federal agents can’t conduct “suspicionless” searches of international travelers’ smartphones and laptops at the border and other ports of entry, a decision hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as a “major victory for privacy rights.”
  • In a 48-page decision, U.S. district judge Denise Casper ruled that border officials need justifiable reasons to search a person’s electronic devices, which should be balanced against the privacy interests of travelers.
  • According to Reuters, Casper’s ruling is a higher standard than current U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies.
  • Casper also ruled that the CBP and ICE policies violate the Fourth Amendment, which provides people protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.
  • Agents, however, are still not required to obtain search warrants to examine phones and laptops with reasonable suspicion. 
  • The ACLU was representing the case’s 11 plaintiffs; lawyer Esha Bhandari said the decision “significantly advances Fourth Amendment protections for the millions of international travelers who enter the United States every year.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

No comment on the erosion of the separation of church and state by trump judge in the 11th circuit?

Anonymous said...

2:14 PM: You mean Judge Marcus, who was appointed by President Clinton?

Anonymous said...

Marcus is a GOP. That's why he took senior under Trump and not Obama.