1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Do Warrantless Searches of Electronic Devices at the Border Violate the Fourth Amendment? Updated March 17, 2021 The Fourth Amendment commands that searches and seizures be reasonable, and generally requi
2、res the government to secure a warrant based on probable cause before arresting or searching an individual. But the Supreme Court has long recognized that the government may conduct routine inspections and searches of individuals entering at the U.S. border without a warrant or any individualized su
3、spicion of criminal activity. In recent decades, some federal courts have applied the “border search exception” to allow relatively limited, manual searches at the border of electronic devices such as computers and cell phones. Courts, however, have disagreed over whether more intrusive, forensic ex
4、aminations of such devices require heightened suspicion of criminal activity. Recently in Alasaad v. Mayorkas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overturned a federal district courts ruling that any “non-cursory” border search of an electronic devicewhether conducted manually or forensi
