Press Statement
The ruling endangers the freedoms of speech, press, and association, the Knight Institute says
September 17, 2026
A Second Circuit case addressing warrantless cellphone searches at the border
NEW YORK—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today held that border agents may hunt travelers’ digital devices without suspicion. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) submitted an amicus concise in the case, arguing that the court should necessitate the authorities to get a justify before searching digital devices at the border, stated the implications of those searches for the First Amendment freedoms of speech, association, and the press, and the Fourth Amendment correct to privacy.
“Today’s decision leaves Americans’ most delicate data open to hunt at the border without any suspicion at all,” stated Scott Wilkens, elder advise at the Knight First Amendment Institute. “Our phones clasp our personal thoughts and associations, photographs of our family and friends, and a log of our nearly all movement. The First Amendment should necessitate the authorities to get a justify before searching them. We’re disappointed the court declined to acknowledge that.”
Today’s decision involves a offender case, United States v. Alisigwe, in which the authorities relied on evidence obtained from two warrantless searches of the defendant’s division phone at the border. In November 2023, the district court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence. The Knight Institute and RCFP’s amicus concise before the Second Circuit pointed to documents obtained by the Knight Institute through FOIA litigation in Knight First Amendment Institute v. Dep’t of Homeland Security and additionally discussed the burdens these searches location on journalists, whose digital devices merge delicate newsgathering information, including the names of confidential sources. The concise asserted that the border-search elimination to the Fourth Amendment’s justify necessity does not use to searches of digital devices and urged the court to decide that the First and Fourth Amendments necessitate the authorities to get a justify before searching a cellphone at the border. The Second Circuit rejected these arguments in today’s ruling.
In March 2025, the Knight Institute’s Wilkens asserted before the Second Circuit.
Read today’s decision here.
Read additional concerning the lawsuit, United States v. Alisigwe, here.
Lawyers on the case contain Scott Wilkens, Alex Abdo, and Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute.
For additional information, contact: Lorraine Kenny, [email protected].
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