CA1 upholds border search of electronic devices

Alasaad v. Mayorkas, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 3586 (1st Cir. Feb. 9, 2021):

Plaintiffs bring a civil action seeking to enjoin current policies which govern searches of electronic devices at this country’s borders. They argue that these border search policies violate the Fourth and First Amendments both facially and as applied. The policies each allow border agents to perform “basic” searches of electronic devices without reasonable suspicion and “advanced” searches only with reasonable suspicion. In these cross-appeals we conclude that the challenged border search policies, both on their face and as applied to the two plaintiffs who were subject to these policies, are within permissible constitutional grounds. We find no violations of either the Fourth Amendment or the First Amendment. While this court apparently is the first circuit court to address these questions in a civil action, several of our sister circuits have addressed similar questions in criminal proceedings prosecuted by the United States. We join the Eleventh Circuit in holding that advanced searches of electronic devices at the border do not require a warrant or probable cause. United States v. Vergara, 884 F.3d 1309, 1311-12 (11th Cir. 2018). We also join the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits in holding that basic border searches of electronic devices are routine searches that may be performed without reasonable suspicion. United States v. Cano, 934 F.3d 1002, 1016 (9th Cir. 2019), petition for cert. filed (Jan. 29, 2021) (No. 20-1043); United States v. Touset, 890 F.3d 1227, 1233 (11th Cir. 2018). We also hold the district court erroneously narrowed the scope of permissible searches of such equipment at the border.

Techdirt: First Circuit Rejects Device Search Challenge, Says The Fourth Amendment Doesn’t Apply At Our Nation’s Borders by Tim Cushing

This entry was posted in Border search, Cell phones. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.