United States v. Kolsuz

Brief of Amici Curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, Brennan Center for Justice, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), CAIR California, CAIR Florida, CAIR Missouri, CAIR New York, CAIR Ohio, CAIR Dallas/Fort Worth, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Defendant-Appellant.

Brief filed: 03/20/2017

Documents

United States v. Kolsuz

4th Circuit Court of Appeals; Case No. 16-4687

Prior Decision

Decision below 185 F.Supp.3d 843 (E.D. Va. 2016).

Argument(s)

Digital devices contain and access vast amounts of highly personal information. The border search exception is narrow. All border searches of digital devices, whether "manual" or "forensic," are highly invasive of personal privacy and are thus "non-routine." A probable cause warrant should be required for boarder searches of data stored or accessible on digital devices. A probable cause warrant should be required given the highly personal information stored and accessible on digital devices. A probable cause warrant should be required because searching digital data is not tethered to the narrow purposes of the boarder search exception.

Author(s)

Sophia Cope and Adam Schwartz, Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, CA; Elizabeth A. Franklin-Best, NACDL, Columbia, SC.