The current state of electronic device searches at the border is unacceptable and a clear violation of privacy rights. The inconsistent legal landscape across different jurisdictions breeds confusion, uncertainty, and enables potential abuse by government agents.
At this moment, whether you fly into San Francisco vs Boston vs Atlanta, there are three different rulings on exactly which part of your phone can be searched, for what purposes, and what level of suspicion is needed. A number of lower courts have ruled on the issue, but there has not been uniformity. This patchwork of conflicting rules fails to provide clear guidelines and safeguards to protect the substantial privacy interests involved when border agents can potentially access the most intimate details of a person's life contained on their electronic devices.
The government's claimed authority to conduct warrantless, suspicionless searches of travelers' phones, laptops and other devices is an unconstitutional overreach that flies in the face of the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Supreme Court must definitively weigh in to close this constitutional loophole and establish nationwide standards that uphold civil liberties. Congress also has an obligation to step in and legislate clear rules that prevent unwarranted invasions of privacy during border crossings.
The status quo is unacceptable - it is imperative that action be taken to ensure robust safeguards are in place to protect the rights of both citizens and non-citizens alike when traveling with electronic devices. The current environment enabling unfettered government overreach must not persist.
First sent on May 4 by Coleman
