On November 27, 2024, the Knight Institute and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press submitted an amicus brief in United States v. Smith, a criminal case in which the government relied on evidence obtained from a warrantless search of the defendant’s cell phone at the border. 

The amicus brief addresses the ways that searches of electronic devices at the border burden First Amendment freedoms of speech, association, and the press, as well as the Fourth Amendment right to privacy. The brief points to documents obtained by the Knight Institute through FOIA litigation in Knight First Amendment Institute v. Dep’t of Homeland Security and discusses the burdens these searches place on journalists, whose electronic devices contain sensitive newsgathering information, including the names of confidential sources. The brief argues that the border-search exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement does not apply to searches of electronic devices and urges the court to conclude that the First and Fourth Amendments require the government to obtain a warrant before searching a cellphone even at the border.

Status: Briefing ongoing.

Case Information: United States v. Smith, No. 24-1680 (2d Cir.)