On September 17, 2026 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in United States v. Alisigwe that border agents may search travelers’ electronic devices without any individualized suspicion. The ruling upheld the use of evidence obtained from two warrantless phone searches at the border and affirmed a lower court’s denial of a suppression motion from November 2023. The decision was announced in a press statement responding to the court’s rejection of arguments that would have extended ordinary Fourth Amendment protections to cellphones at the border.
Advocates from the Knight First Amendment Institute and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press had filed an amicus brief urging a warrant requirement, citing First Amendment interests in speech, association, and press freedom as well as privacy concerns under the Fourth Amendment. The brief relied on documents obtained via FOIA and stressed harms to journalists - including exposure of confidential sources - and to travelers whose phones contain highly personal data. Counsel including Scott Wilkens (who argued in March 2025), Alex Abdo, and Jameel Jaffer pressed that the traditional border-search exception should not apply to modern digital devices; the Second Circuit rejected those contentions.
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