Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano
Is a judicial order for data under the [Stored Communications Act of 1986] a search warrant under the Fourth Amendment? It is, after all, a judicial order directing and authorizing an official of the executive branch to surveil and seize private property, and it does specifically describe the place to be searched or the thing to be seized. But, because it is not based on probable cause of crime as the Fourth Amendment requires, the short answer is: No. In United States v. Carpenter (2018), the Supreme Court ruled that orders for data based on governmental need, rather than probable cause of crime, are constitutionally defective and the data cannot be used at trial. But the government, which knows how to evade an uncomfortable constitutional provision or Supreme Court opinion, has continued to use the SCA as a means around them.” (10/10/24)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2024/10/09/the-government-compels-silence-again/