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9th Circuits Still Says CBP Can Search Your Laptop

In an expected result, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has denied a petition for rehearing in the case of U.S. v. Arnold. This case involved the issue of whether Customs and Border Protection can search laptops (or other digital devices) that passengers carry with them across the border. We've covered this issue before (here, here and here). I also recently contributed an article on it to the June 2008 issue of CCS Contact.

So, it seems there is not much to add except that nothing has changed. Should this go up to the Supreme Court, which is doubtful, I predict not much will change there either. It seems that Congress is going to need to step in if there is to be any limitation in the authority given Customs to conduct border searches. As previously noted, some Senators have raised the issue.

Full post as published by Customs Law on July 21, 2008 (boomark / email).