CA5: Def’s cell phone apps scan at border was supported by PC

“After discovering kilos of meth in the suitcase Maria Isabel Molina-Isidoro was carrying across the border, customs agents looked at a couple of apps on her cell phone. Molina argues that the evidence found during this warrantless search of her phone should be suppressed. Along with amici, she invites the court to announce general rules concerning the application of the government’s historically broad border-search authority to modern technology for which the Supreme Court has recognized increased privacy interests. See Riley v. California, 134 S. Ct. 2473, 2489-91, 2493 (2014). We decline the invitation to do so because the nonforensic search of Molina’s cell phone at the border was supported by probable cause. That means at a minimum the agents had a good-faith basis for believing the search did not run afoul of the Fourth Amendment.” United States v. Molina-Isidoro, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 5226 (5th Cir. Mar. 1, 2018).