ACLU and EFF Sue Over Warrantless Phone and Laptop Searches at U.S. Border

aclu.org

162 points·tony101··5 comments

I hope this one goes to the Supreme Court, as that's the only place this will be resolved. Otherwise, U.S. Criminal Law is clear: searches and seizures at the border are exempt from requirements for warrants or probable cause.

Multiple circuit courts have upheld the Government's right to do this, and that this right extends to electronic files and information. Only the Ninth has disagreed (United States v. Cotterman).

Problem is "at the border" isn't always interpreted as "crossing the border". 200 million people live in border-zones (within 100 miles of a border), and a lot of courts have given border patrol even wider jurisdiction.

True, but a secondary issue, unrelated to the matter at hand, and frankly much less egregious. While Federal law allows certain agencies to conduct search and seizure operations within 100 miles of the border, the Supreme Court has been clear on multiple occasions that warrantless actions only apply at the border itself (including points of entry like airports).

Totally tangential: It'd be nice if the [dupe] tag took you to the HN original discussion.

The other discussion (id=15240781) is actually a dupe of this one (id=15240700). HN marked the wrong dupe!

I tried to warn people before the other article got any comments, but they just downvoted me. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15240973

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