This case presents an important question about the extent of Fourth Amendment privacy rights in the digital age, where the use of mobile devices is widespread.  The government's assertion of authority to search such devices without any individualized suspicion when an individual is crossing the border - whether entering or leaving the United States - creates an end-run around Fourth Amendment protections that would otherwise apply to the voluminous and intimate information contained in those devices, and is not justified by the rationale permitting routine border searches.  

Attorney(s)

Hope Amezquita, Esha Bhandari, Nathan Freed Wessler, Vera Eidelman, David Rocah, Susan Dunn, Irene Como, Jamie Lynn Crofts

Date filed

March 20, 2017

Court

4th Circuit Court of Appeals

Status

Defending liberty

Case number

16-4687