With United States v. Smith (S.D.N.Y. May 11, 2023), a district court judge in New York made history by being the first court to rule that a warrant is required for a cell phone search at the border, “absent exigent circumstances” (although other district courts have wanted to do so).EFF is.
Tue, Feb 16th 2021 10:44am
Tim Cushing
US borders continue to be lawless places. Not because there s more criminal activity there, but because the Constitution that protects us
away from borders (and international airports, etc.) barely applies at all within 100 miles of them.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest appeals court to decide borders and constitutional protections don t mix. A lawsuit over warrantless, suspicionless device searches has been rejected, with the court finding in favor of the government.
This deepens the split between circuits and their interpretation of the Constitution s effectiveness within 100 miles of the border. The Ninth Circuit said device searches must be limited to searches for contraband. In that case, the government couldn t show evidence of drug dealing would be found on the suspect s phone. The court said the government couldn t use the border search warrant exception to engage in fishing expeditions for other criminal evidenc