Tenth Circuit: 4th Amendment Doesn't Support Broad Search of Protesters' Devices

3 hours ago

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit overturned a lower court’s dismissal of a challenge to warrants searching a protester’s devices and a nonprofit’s social media data.
The case, Armendariz v. City of Colorado Springs, stemmed from a 2021 housing protest where police arrested protesters and obtained broad warrants to search Jacqueline Armendariz Unzueta’s digital data and the Chinook Center’s Facebook page.
The warrants allowed extensive searches, including all photos, videos, emails, text messages, and location data over two months, plus unlimited keyword searches for terms like 'bike' and 'assault.'
The district court dismissed the lawsuit, citing justified searches and qualified immunity for officers, but the Tenth Circuit reversed this decision, calling the warrants overbroad and lacking particularity.
The appellate court ruled that officers violated 'clearly established' law, denying them qualified immunity, a rare move in such cases.
The decision is seen as a significant victory for protesters' rights and privacy concerns regarding digital data.
The case has been remanded to the district court for further proceedings.

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