User:Dbarnhill/Roughdraft
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United States v. Warshak is a criminal case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holding that government agents violated the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights by compelling his Internet Service Provider (ISP) to turn over his e-mails without first obtaining a search warrant based on probable cause. However, constitutional violation notwithstanding, the evidence obtained with these emails could not be excluded from the trial because the government agents relied in good faith on the Stored Communications Act (SCA). The court further declared that the SCA is unconstitutional to the extent that it allows the government to obtain emails without a warrant. [1]
United States v. Warshak | |
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Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit |
Full case name | 'United States v. Steven Warshak et al.' |
Argued | June 16 2010 |
Decided | December 14 2010 |
Citation(s) | 2010 WL 5071766; 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 25415; --- F.3d --- |
Holding | |
Government agents violated the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights when they compelled his ISP to produce the content of his emails without first obtaining a warrant based on probable cause. | |
Court membership | |
Judge(s) sitting | Damon Keith, Danny Boggs, and David McKeague |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Boggs, joined by McKeague |
Concurrence | Keith |
Laws applied | |
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Stored Communications Act 18 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq. |
This case is notable because it is the first court from the United States Circuit Court of Appeals to explicitly hold that there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of e-mails stored on third party servers and that the content of these emails is subject to Fourth Amendment protection. [1]