Richard Adhikari reports: Border protection agents have extensive rights to search electronic devices that travelers take with them through U.S. ports of entry. However, relatively few searches are actually conducted. Border agencies insist they have no interest in holding up legitimate travelers, but civil liberties groups maintain agencies’ policies on searching electronics are too broad…
Tag: Fourth Amendment
Court: Compulsory taking of DNA from pretrial detainee violates Fourth Amendment
FourthAmendment.com brings us a court opinion out of Pennsylvania that is quoteworthy: A DNA profile generates investigatory evidence that is primarily used by law enforcement officials for general law enforcement purposes. To allow such suspicionless searches, which are conducted in almost all instances with law enforcement involvement, to occur absent traditional warrant and probable cause…
Calif. Justices Seem OK With DNA-Based Warrant
Mike McKee reports: ….. At issue in People v. Robinson , S158528, is whether an unknown suspect’s DNA profile — as opposed to a physical description — can satisfy the so-called particularity requirement for issuing a “John Doe” warrant, and whether such warrants toll the statute of limitations for bringing criminal charges. A third issue…
Article: Who Can Sue Over Government Surveillance?
Scott Michelman, staff attorney for the ACLU, has an article (pdf) in the current issue of UCLA Law Review. Here’s the abstract: The nature and scope of new government electronic surveillance programs in the aftermath of September 11 have presented acute constitutional questions about executive authority, the Fourth Amendment, and the separation of powers. But…