Alasaad, et al. v. Nielsen, et al.
The Reporters Committee and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed an amicus brief in support of 11 plaintiffs, several of whom are journalists, who are challenging government searches of smartphones and other electronic devices at the U.S. border without a warrant. The amicus briefs argues that because electronic devices store enormous amounts of private information about a person’s speech and associations, searching them at the border without a warrant violates travelers’ First Amendment rights. The amicus brief highlights the particular concerns of journalists, whose electronic devices contain sensitive information about their newsgathering activities that, if revealed to the government, could chill their relationships with sources and ability to report freely. Attorneys from Jenner & Block and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP provided pro bono representation of the Reporters Committee and the Knight Institute in conjunction with the brief.