Whether the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement applies to suspicionless searches of electronic devices, including cell phones, at the international border, or whether such searches fall entirely outside Fourth Amendment protections under the border-search doctrine

No question identified. : To the Honorable Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Fifth Circuit: 1. Applicant Alvaro Castillo, Jr., requests a 30-day extension of time to file his petition for certiorari in this Court to and including October 18, 2023. See 28 U.S.C. § 2101(c); Sup. Ct. R. 13.5, 22, 30. The final judgment of the Fifth Circuit was entered on June 19, 2023, and Applicant’s time to petition for certiorari in this Court expires September 18, 2023. This application is being filed more than 10 days before that date. A copy of the published opinion below, which is available at 70 F.4th 894, is attached hereto. The jurisdiction of this Court will be invoked under 28 U.S.C. § 1254(1). 2. As shown by the opinion below, the case involves an important Fourth Amendment question about the scope of the border-search doctrine in the context of electronic devices. In October 2019, Applicant, a U.S. citizen, and his adult nephew and friend, crossed the international bridge from Presidio, Texas, to Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico, in a recreational vehicle (RV), towing a passenger car. Mexican authorities told them that they would need to cross the RV and car separately. To do this, they had to make a U-turn to reenter the United States and unhook the vehicles. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents sent the RV to the secondary lane for reentry into the United States and searched it. Agents discovered a personal-use amount of marijuana inside a suitcase, and a .357 revolver wrapped in packing foam and taped between two frying pans inside the oven, 1 as well as ammunition inside a pressure cooker that was taped shut. Castillo, who claimed ownership of all contents of the RV and vehicle, was handcuffed, detained, and subjected to custodial interrogation in violation of his Miranda rights, during which time an agent obtained the passcode of Castillo’s cellphone. A search of the phone revealed images of child pornography. Castillo was charged by a second superseding indictment with six counts related to child pornography—three counts of production, one count of attempted production, and two counts of transporting and possessing. The district court denied his motion to suppress the evidence discovered during the initial search of his cell phone, as well as subsequent searches of Castillo’s other electronic devices. A jury convicted him of all counts, and he was sentenced to a total of 720 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Applicant argued that, because the search of his cell phone was aimed at uncovering evidence against Castillo for the possible prosecution of gun smuggling, but no suspicion existed that the phone itself contained contraband, the search fell beyond the purpose of the border-search doctrine. Thus, the warrantless search of his cell phone violated the Fourth Amendment. The court of appeals held that a suspicionless search of a cell phone at the border falls outside the scope of the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. This holding is contrary to the Fourth Amendment and Riley v. California, 134 S. Ct. 2473 (2014). 3. Applicant was represented in the district court and court of appeals by the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas and is represented in this Court by Assistant Federal Public Defender Kristin L. Davidson, a member of the Bar of this Court. Since the Fifth Circuit handed down its decision on June 19, 2023, counsel has been engaged in a number of matters in this Court and the Fifth Circuit, limiting the amount of time she has been able to devote to preparing the petition in this case. Counsel has filed 10 briefs in the Fifth Circuit and six cert petitions in this Court. Between now and the current September 18, 2023, deadline, counsel has three briefs due in the Fifth Circuit and one other petition in this Court. Between then and October 18, 2023, counsel has three briefs due in the Fifth Circuit, with more briefing noti