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Across the FieldAmicus Brief in United States v. Morton
Logan Koepke, Emma Weil, and Tinuola Dada
Amicus briefWe filed an amicus brief in United States v. Morton, a case in front of the en banc Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In the brief, we explain how the Government’s remarkable technical assertions — that mobile device forensic tools can only extract all data off of a cellphone and cannot perform a narrower search — are incorrect. We also explain how the Government’s legal position would effectively authorize indiscriminate, limitless searches of cellphones, in violation of the protections of the Fourth Amendment.
Related Work
We are suing the NYPD for records concerning the department’s use of mobile device forensic technology. Upturn is represented on a pro-bono basis by Shearman & Sterling, LLP and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.).
PolicingWorking with the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard Law School, we filed a brief in New Jersey v. Pickett supporting the defense’s request to fully examine TrueAllele, the probabilistic DNA analysis software used in the case, in order to assess its reliability.
Criminal CourtsWe filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, arguing that the Court should not order the implementation of a pretrial risk assessment instrument as a bail reform measure in Philadelphia.
Criminal CourtsThis report is the most comprehensive examination of U.S. law enforcement’s use of mobile device forensic tools. Our research shows that every American is at risk of having their phone forensically searched by law enforcement.
Policing