iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

In California, local Sheriffs have to follow directives of the state Attorney General about whether to pursue an investigation, Cal SCT holds. www4.courts.ca.gov/opinions/doc...

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Use of a cell-site simulator is a Fourth Amendment search under Chatrie and Carpenter, Fourth Circuit holds, agreeing w/ Maryland courts. (But also, there is QI here, as no federal court of appeals has reached the issue yet and this occurred back in 2014.) www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/181...

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You'd think LSAC would investigate this on their own given their mission statement: Law, Justice, Equity, and Fairness and all.

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The Anibowei v. Blanche cert petition on whether border searches of computers require a warrant is now circulated for 10/9: It remains to be seen if the Court will direct DOJ to file a brief in opposition. (The Administration waived.) www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?...

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Wonderful time last night seeing @sfopera.bsky.social's performance of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. The now-ended musician's strike made last night's performance the unexpected season opener, but catch it if you can in the remaining shows. Fantastic.

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

College students no longer revere books, as they can just ask a computer for the answer and it tells them, laments professor. . . . in 1965. youtube.com/watch?v=e02U... (starting at about 7:50)

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Couple get in business trouble in the 1980s, and in 1987 they invent new lives by taking names & identities of infants who recently died. Live under those names for 30+ years, before govt realizes it. Held: Applying for govt ID in the infant's names after 30 years of use is still ID theft.

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

If you're a criminal defense lawyer, this may have happened to your clients—and the government won't tell you that unless you specifically ask. I wrote this model motion to suppress for you to file in your cases to challenge the seizure: www.nacdl.org/getattachmen...

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Every year, the government orders the Internet accounts of about 1 in 1,000 people to be copied in their entirety & held for the government, all in total secrecy, and all without any cause. In this article, I explain why I think that's unconstitutional. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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The search-incident-to-arrest power categorically does not include the authority to conduct strip searches, Third Circuit holds (per Bibas, J.) www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/252...

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According to the majority, though, even just finding criminals—not of border crimes, but of any crimes—is a legitimate justification for a suspicion-free search power.

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This is a very broad opinion, but note one limit: The court leaves undecided whether a forensic search, using Cellebrite tools, etc., could justify a different rule.

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2d Circuit holds that no warrant and no suspicion is needed to search a citizen's cell phone at the border. According to the court, per Judge Menashi, the border search exception authorizes searches to find criminals crossing the border, and Riley does not apply. ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/OP...

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When you apply the law to the facts of the Internet, are the "facts" based on the virtual reality of what the user perceives, or are the "facts" based on the physical reality of how the network works? I wrote an article on this long ago, read it here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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It violated the 4th Amendment, and there's no qualified immunity, when child welfare workers entered the home to make a child safety check based on an anonymous report that a parent was upset and agitated at school dropoff that morning. www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/231...

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Delighted to be able to post the final version of my article, "The Moving Property Problem in Fourth Amendment Law," just published in the Virginia Law Review. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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NEW: Police investigating two kidnappings query Flock cameras in two California cities to get records of car's location—4 photos from each Flock system. District Court: No 4th Amendment search occurred, as the info revealed was not a sufficient invasion of privacy. drive.google.com/file/d/1PeM0...

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"Berkeley Law bars Law Students for Justice in Palestine from co-sponsoring events over bylaws," the Daily Cal reports. dailycal.org/news/campus/...

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Evidentiary hearing to be held in N.D. Cal on how Flock cameras work to help w/ suppression motion. (In the old days, there would be a DOJ team of lawyers strategizing on the govt side of this, to counter the civil liberties groups doing the same, but I don't know if DOJ works that way any more.)

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Can a federal officer pull over a driver for the state offense of speeding? Can a state or local officer stop or arrest someone for committing a federal immigration offense? I had an article on this set of puzzles a few years ago. You can read it here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Back when Florida required a license for concealed carry, mere possession of a concealed weapon would not establish reasonable suspicion allowing a Terry stop for lack of license, 11th Circuit holds per Newsom, J. (Today no license is required.) media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

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A reply, screenshotted b/c bluesky doesn't allow long replies.

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And here's a law review article that focuses on the importance of using specific words (like criminal legal system) to achieving major reforms, Lauryn Goulden, The Language of Criminal Justice Reform: Reflections on Karakatsanis' Usual Cruelty, 55 New Eng. L Rev (2022) newenglrev.com/2022/01/11/t...

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You write: "I do not see this naïveté: > persuading people of the need for major reforms, helping to cause those reforms." Here's the conclusion of what I think is one of the more prominent arguments for "criminal legal system." www.forbes.com/sites/forbes...

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A few representative pages.

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I think this is a good overview of the argument behind the phrase change. Benjamin Levin, After the Criminal Justice System, 98 Wash. L. Rev. 899 (2023), digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol98/is...

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2. My understanding is that the switch to "criminal legal system" is to make an argument. The idea is to use "criminal legal system" as a way to voice one's deeply felt outrage at the failure of the criminal justice system to truly be just. www.forbes.com/sites/forbes...

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I am not a fan of the term "criminal legal system," as it's too obviously used with an ideological point in mind. But those trying to make it at a standard phrase in the law reviews have succeeded. Here, # articles in Westlaw's JLR database using it per year, versus "criminal justice system."

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The article's title tries to conjure that image, but the evidence they have—which seems to be what the story is entirely based on—is this document, which does not at all suggest your interpretation. I tend to rely more on the primary document here.

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Use of drug detection dogs in open spaces is still not a search, even after the new Chatrie ruling, 10th Circuit holds: Dog sniffs are limited privacy invasions, as they only detect odors in the immediate area. This isn't invasive enough to be a search. www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f...

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