Source: http://www.gilmermirror.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Two+Rulings-+U-S-+Supreme+Court+Affirms+Expectation+of+Privacy+in+Rental+Cars-+Rejects+Digital+Privacy+Protections+Under+Wiretapping+Law%20&id=27571053
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 03:50:06+00:00

Document:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court handed down two Fourth Amendment rulings this week that impact privacy rights. In the first case, Byrd v. United States, a unanimous Court ruled that drivers of rental cars—whether or not they are explicitly named in the rental agreement—are generally entitled to the same reasonable expectations of privacy under the Fourth Amendment as the individual listed in the rental agreement. In the second case, Dahda v. United States of America, the Court ruled 8-0 that evidence obtained under orders that violate the nation’s federal wiretapping law can be used against a defendant in a criminal trial.
The Supreme Court’s opinions in Byrd v. U.S. and Dahda v. U.S. are available at www.rutherford.org. Attorneys Erin Glenn Busby and Lisa R. Eskow of Austin, Texas, and the University of Texas School of Law Supreme Court Clinic assisted The Rutherford Institute with the amicus curiae brief in Dahda v. U.S.
In Dahda v. U.S., federal agents, during the course of an investigation into suspected marijuana distribution, obtained a wiretap from a federal court in Kansas for Los and Roosevelt Dahda’s mobile phones in violation of the requirements of Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968, which prohibits wiretapping except in very limited circumstances and under strict supervision by judges. After the Dahdas were charged with federal drug offenses, they moved to suppress evidence obtained under the wiretap order. The Supreme Court’s ruling allows prosecutors to use evidence obtained by wiretapping phones even if it falls outside the court’s jurisdiction. In weighing in on Dahda,The Rutherford Institute had urged the high court to strictly enforce the letter of the law protecting the privacy of citizens and maintain core privacy protections enacted by Congress, especially as they pertain to the government’s ability to monitor Americans’ communications.

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