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Second Circuit allows government to search electronic devices at the border

131 points · 79 comments · HotGarbage

  1. jmclnx · · focus · HN ↗
    The article is not that clear in one way. Does this only apply to non-US Citizens ?
    1. weberer · · focus · HN ↗
      Anybody crossing the border. The justification is that the government's constitutional right to control imports overrides the 4th amendment right to privacy.

      >“The border-search exception is grounded in the recognized right of the sovereign to control, subject to substantive limitations imposed by the Constitution, who and what may enter the country.” Id. at 620. Because “[t]he Government’s interest in preventing the entry of unwanted persons and effects is at its zenith at the international border,” United States v. Flores-Montano, 541 U.S. 149, 152 (2004), “searches made at the border, pursuant to the long-standing right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border,” Ramsey, 431 U.S. at 616.

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov&#x2F;decisions&#x2F;OPN&#x2F;24-960_complete_opn.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov&#x2F;decisions&#x2F;OPN&#x2F;24-960_complete_o...

      1. howdyhowdy · · focus · HN ↗
        Worse though, is that the definition of border is hella loose. CBP can be many MANY miles away from an actual border and do this.
        1. AnimalMuppet · · focus · HN ↗
          Even worse: The Trump administration claimed international airports as part of the border. (I saw that once, months ago. I do not know what the legal state of that claim is, or even whether it is currently part of their theory of what they are allowed to do.)
          1. r3trohack3r · · focus · HN ↗
            Setting the “100 mile” thingamajig aside - why wouldn’t you consider an international airport part of your border? It is a port of entry.
            1. samus · · focus · HN ↗
              The problem is the 100 mile rule, which effectively puts most of the population under the purview of border control measures.

              Apart from that, an airport is a comparatively small area of land that is magnitudes easier to monitor than a border that only exists as a thousands of miles long line on the map, therefore the 100 miles rule should not be applied. And everyone getting off an international flight in the USA has already been searched multiple times.

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