By Jonathan Willis
There are some important cases for the Supreme Court to rule on over the next few months. In particular, the court has a few pivotal decisions to make in regards to the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment in the modern era. We will see police power either expanded or reigned in with the Supreme Court’s rulings in Carpenter v. U.S. and Collins v. Virginia.
The Supreme Court also has a big decision to make in the most recent iteration of United States v. Microsoft. In this case, the Supreme Court will further interpret the power of the United States in regards to the Stored Communication Act.
Will the Supreme Court reverse the lower court’s decision in Carpenter v. United States?
Yes -400
No +325
This is the first case that will test the limits of the Fourth Amendment in the modern era. In Carpenter v. United States, the question at hand is whether or not the government can seize a citizen’s historical cell phone location data without a warrant.
The Supreme Court debated a related issue a few years ago. In Riley v. California, the Supreme Court ruled that the search and seizure of the contents of a cell phone during an arrest was unconstitutional if there was no prior warrant. All nine justices voted that this was in violation of an individual’s Fourth Amendment rights.
Should a warrant be required for access to cell phone location data? While we await clarification from SCOTUS (Carpenter v. US), this ACLU page is helpful for understanding state laws: https://t.co/KRmjj8leWe
— Priscilla Oppenheimer (@priscillaoppy) February 23, 2018
Thus far, none of the lower courts have ruled in favor of Carpenter, affirming the ruling. They highlighted the Supreme Court’s decision in Smith v. Maryland and the Stored Communications Act in their decision to allow the cell phone location records as evidence against Carpenter.
Eight of the nine Supreme Court justices that will be ruling on this case also decided against the United States in Riley v. California, so seeing the ‘Yes’ as a sizeable favorite makes sense. The question should largely be the same as it was in that case. However, the government is requesting less than it was in this case than it was in Riley v. California, so there is a chance for the Supreme Court to reverse course somewhat.
Will the Supreme Court reverse the lower court’s decision in Collins v. Virginia?
Yes -600
No +450
In Collins v. Virginia, the Fourth Amendment’s automobile exception will be questioned. The automobile exception states that a police officer is allowed to search an automobile without a warrant if there is probable cause. That’s a tricky matter in this case for two reasons.
The first is that this pertains to a motorcycle instead of a car. That may seem like semantics, but it is still an important distinction to make. The second is that there was a tarp over the motorcycle, and a police officer lifted up the tarp in order to take a VIN number from the bike without a warrant.
New Audio from #SCOTUS – Collins v. Virginia (#FourthAmendment)
Does the Fourth Amendment's automobile exception permit a police officer to search a vehicle parked a few feet from a house on private property?https://t.co/ZlpHmKCneO
— Audio Arguendo (@AudioArguendo) January 13, 2018
In this case, lower courts have sided with the state of Virginia. However, in the last appeal, the only reason the decision was upheld was because of the automobile exemption.
It seems likely that the Supreme Court will overturn this decision. Many prediction markets think that this will be a 9-0 ruling, as this does seem to be a clear case of a police officer executing a search without a warrant. The oral arguments seemed to indicate that many of the justices were of the same mind about this.
Will the Supreme Court reverse the lower court’s decision in United States vs. Microsoft?
Yes -500
No +400
Although this case doesn’t specifically involve the Fourth Amendment, it does question whether or not the government is overstepping its bounds in regards to an individual’s privacy.
It’s been five years since the federal government served Microsoft a warrant to turn over the e-mail communications of a user whose information was stored offshore in Ireland. Microsoft has fought the warrant every step of the way, taking the United States to court and following up with appeals all the way towards the Supreme Court.
https://twitter.com/JasonAtEFF/status/968193257892061184
As with Carpenter v. United States, the Stored Communications Act is what the government is resting its defense on. However, this act was passed into law back in 1986, back when cell phones were bricks and before the dawn of the Internet Age.
This case is likely to go against the government too. Many are expecting the Supreme Court to deliver Microsoft a unanimous decision and curtail some of the more broader interpretations of the Stored Communication Act parts of the government had been operating under.
