THIS IS A TEST: Could the Presidential Text Message Alert System be in Violation of Privacy Rights Afforded by the First and Fourth Amendment? New York Plaintiffs Test it Out.

Puja Amin of Womble Bond Dickinson writes about a complaint that may be of interest to some readers:

… Just before the alert was sent out, Judge Katherine Polk Failla, rejected three self-represented New Yorkers’ request for a preliminary injunction to halt the test of the Presidential Alert system, apparently finding Plaintiffs’ claims “too speculative.” The New York Plaintiffs had filed its lawsuit, Nicholas v. Trump, case number 1:18-cv-08828, on September 26, 2018 in the Southern District Court of New York against Donald Trump and the head of FEMA, arguing that the new system violates First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

In their complaint, the Plaintiffs proclaim that they are “American citizens who do not wish to receive text messages, or messages of any kind, on any topic or subject, from Defendant Trump.” Citing the Carpenter v. United States decision we discussed here on TCPALand a few months back, Plaintiffs allege that these messages allow the government “to trespass into and hijack” cellular devices without explicit consent, which violates the “Fourth Amendment right to privacy in their cellular devices.”

Read more on National Law Review. And thanks to Joe Cadillic for sending along this one!