On August 28, 2024, the Knight Institute, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy & Technology, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center submitted an amicus brief in Armendariz v. City of Colorado Springs, a civil rights suit challenging broad warrants authorizing the search of laptops, cell phones, and a social media account’s private messages, in the investigation of organizers of a housing rights march that the police asserted was “illegal.” The district court dismissed the case, holding that the police officers had qualified immunity, and the plaintiffs appealed.

The Institute’s amicus brief argues that the broad digital searches and seizures challenged in the case were unconstitutional because they were not conducted with the “scrupulous exactitude” required when a search implicates First Amendment–protected activity. Specifically, the brief argues that the warrants were not supported by probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime would be found on the devices or in the social media account’s private messages; and that the warrants lacked particularity, in that they allowed officers to rifle through an enormous amount of private, expressive material. The brief urges the Tenth Circuit to hold that the defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity and to allow the case to proceed.

Status: Briefing in the Tenth Circuit is ongoing. The oral argument date has not been set.

Case Information: Armendariz v. City of Colorado Springs, No. 24-1201 (10th Cir.).