Comments to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules regarding proposed amendments to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

On behalf of a diverse group of public interest and other advocacy organizations, we strongly urge you to support amendments from S.1686, the Judiciously Using Surveillance Tools In Counterterrorism Efforts (JUSTICE) Act, during tomorrow’s Patriot Act reauthorization mark if and when they are offered. We commend Chairman Leahy and Senators Cardin and Kaufman for introducing the USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization Act and recommend adding additional privacy protections during your scheduled markup.

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

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

and ‘Exigent Circumstances’ When Police Confront the Sanctity of the Home

Does the pursuit of a fleeing misdemeanor suspect always qualify as an exigent circumstance that permits warrantless entry into a home? In Lange v. California, the Supreme Court held that it does not. 

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.

Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and Federal Rules of Evidence.

Comments to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding proposed changes to procedures in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice & Procedure regarding proposed rule changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

to Conduct a Forensic Search of a Digital Device at the Border

The rise of electronic devices like laptops and smartphones brought new questions to the border search doctrine. Are electronic devices like vehicles, which require no reasonable suspicion to warrantlessly search at the border? Or are digital devices more like invasive searches of a person? Does the type of search – manual or forensic – require different levels of suspicion to execute?

Defense attorney Elliot Abrams discusses a Fourth Circuit case that rejects the use of filter or taint teams after a law office search. He uses this case to develop a road map for lawyers to follow to protect client confidences in response to subpoenas or seizures of client files by the government.

“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.

“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.