Nearly every case involves a cell phone or an online account. Laws on device and account searches are continuing to evolve, as courts reconsider old doctrines that do not fit with the realities of the digital age. Below, find sample motions on suppressing emails, passcodes, and other electronically stored information.

Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner

NACDL adopts a report and recommendations on law enforcement searches of digital evidence.

The Board of Directors adopted model legislation to protect individual privacy against unwanted governmental intrusion through the use of drones

We write to ask that you rescind your support, as members of the Virginia Municipal League, for racial profiling practices by Virginia law enforcement—euphemistically known as “pretextual policing”—and to invite you to an informal presentation on this important criminal justice issue.

The government contended that the police officer’s conduct was allowed under two exceptions: the plain view doctrine and the automobile exception. Did the appellate court agree?

Imagine a juror not only hearing the recording of a wiretapped phone but watching a recording of a video call for the same meeting. Does the government have the capability to intercept Zoom calls? How would video conferencing companies react to a subpoena or search warrant?

The open fields doctrine is an exception to the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches, not seizures. While police officers can lawfully search a person’s property under the open fields doctrine, that doctrine does not speak to whether they can seize items they see.

10-cv-04059-ERK (E.D.N.Y.)

NACDL commenced a lawsuit with the ACLU challenging a U.S. Customs and Border Protection policy that authorizes searches of the contents of travelers’ laptop computers and other electronic storage devices at border crossings, notwithstanding the absence of probable cause, reasonable suspicion or any indicia of wrongdoing. Filed in the Eastern District of New York, the suit sought to enjoin future enforcement of the policy. NACDL was both a plaintiff and co-counsel in the case, which was dismissed in December 2013 and pending reconsideration as of April 2014.

Brief of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner.

NACDL adopts a report and recommendations to address flaws through reform to the mail cover program.

Courts have long made it clear that agents can search the bags of people entering the country. For the past decade or so, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has applied that logic to digital devices. NACDL members are uniquely exposed to abuse in this context: digita

Courts have long made it clear that agents can search the bags of people entering the country. For the past decade or so, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has applied that logic to digital devices. NACDL members are uniquely exposed to abuse in this context: digital devices store materials and information subject to the attorney-client privilege and attorney work-product doctrine, as well as information on overseas clients and witnesses, and other extremely sensitive materials that could be covered by Rule 1.6 of the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility.

“Surreptitious DNA sample” refers to the collection and analysis of DNA from a person without the person’s knowledge and without coercion. For example, the police may swab a suspect’s DNA from a discarded cigarette. Oded Oren outlines an argument for suppressing the DNA information extracted from the analysis of surreptitiously obtained DNA rather than suppression of the DNA itself or the physical object from which it was obtained.

During a traffic stop, a state trooper arranged for a dog sniff of the vehicle. The vehicle contained fentanyl pills and cocaine. Did the trooper have reasonable suspicion to extend the traffic stop to arrange for the dog sniff?