No. 18-5508

Gerald Andrew Darby v. United States

Lower Court: Fourth Circuit
Docketed: 2018-08-08
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: 4th-amendment anticipatory-warrant computer-privacy exclusionary-rule extraterritoriality fourth-amendment good-faith-exception particularity remote-search search-and-seizure warrant-particularity
Key Terms:
FourthAmendment CriminalProcedure Privacy JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2018-09-24
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether an FBI agent can reasonably rely on the validity of a single warrant that authorizes a million searches of 100,000 different computers without describing any particular place to be searched?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW Under the Fourth Amendment, a warrant must “particularly describ[e] the place to be searched.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. In United States v. Leon, this Court held that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule does not apply when a warrant is “so facially deficient —i.e., in failing to particularize the place to be searched or the things to be seized — that the executing officers cannot reasonably presume it to be valid.” 468 U.S. 897, 923 (1984). Here, the FBI remotely searched thousands of personal computers around the world, including Mr. Darby’s. All of these searches were conducted pursuant to a single warrant. The warrant described the “place to be searched” as any computer that, in the future, accessed a certain website. But the warrant failed to describe any particular computer — by user, location, or otherwise. This single warrant authorized the FBI to conduct a million searches of 100,000 different computers. The question presented is: Whether an FBI agent can reasonably rely on the validity of a single warrant that authorizes a million searches of 100,000 different computers without describing any particular place to be searched? “i

Docket Entries

2018-10-01
Petition DENIED.
2018-08-23
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/24/2018.
2018-08-14
Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
2018-08-06
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due September 7, 2018)

Attorneys

Gerald Andrew Darby
Andrew William GrindrodOffice of the Federal Public Defender, Petitioner
Andrew William GrindrodOffice of the Federal Public Defender, Petitioner
United States
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent