Judge: Suit over warrantless searches at border can proceed

BOSTON – A federal judge says a lawsuit challenging U.S. border authorities’ practice of searching the cellphones and computers of travellers without a warrant can move forward.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston this week rejected the government’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of people whose electronic devices were searched without a warrant at the border.

The Fourth Amendment requires law enforcement to obtain warrants before searches, but have made an exception for searches at airports and U.S. ports of entry.

On Wednesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia ruled that border authorities can’t search travels’ electronic devices without having some reason to believe the particular person has committed a crime.