EPIC to Fifth Circuit: Do Not Allow Warrantless Cell Phone Searches at the Border

EPIC has filed an amicus brief that urges the Fifth Circuit to decline to extend the border search exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement to searches of cell phones. The case, Anibowei v. Wolf, is a civil suit brought by a U.S. citizen attorney to challenge the warrantless searches of his cell phones at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. EPIC argued that the court should “follow the reasoning of Riley and Carpenter and decline to extend the border search exception to cell phones.” EPIC filed amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the privacy interests in cell phone data in both Riley v. California and Carpenter v. United States. The Chief Justice cited EPIC’s brief in his majority opinion in Riley.