search and seizure

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As Shroom Seizures Spike, Businesses Are Unfazed

273% increase in US seizures over 5 years tied to increased availability of the 'new glass of wine'

(Newser) - At a luxury resort in British Columbia, guests swim in a saltwater pool and trip on magic mushrooms. It might not be entirely legal, but as Journeymen Collective co-founder Rob Grover tells the Wall Street Journal , "we don't give it any energy." Use of psilocybin, the psychoactive...

Judge Orders Cops to Stop Using This Stalling Tactic

Permanent injunction bars Kansas Highway Patrol from using 'Kansas Two-Step' to try to find drugs

(Newser) - The Kansas Highway Patrol must stop using a tactic known as the "Kansas Two-Step" to detain out-of-state drivers long enough to find a reason to search their vehicles for illegal drugs, a federal judge has ruled. US District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil on Monday granted a permanent injunction, which...

Bust in Massachusetts Museum May Be a Stolen Antiquity

2nd statue allegedly stolen from Turkey is seized by NY authorities

(Newser) - A bronze bust believed to depict the daughter of an ancient Roman emperor has been seized from an art museum in Massachusetts by New York authorities investigating antiquities stolen from Turkey, per the AP . The seizure is the latest in an ongoing investigation into a smuggling network involving objects looted...

What We Know About Phone Seizure of Trump Ally Scott Perry

GOP congressman's phone was taken by the FBI

(Newser) - Three FBI agents took the rare step of seizing the cellphone of a sitting member of Congress on Tuesday. Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, a five-term congressman and chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, has claimed the seizure is tied to the search of Trump's home in...

Cops Must Return Stripper's $20K in Cash

Miami-Dade police must also pay the woman's legal fees

(Newser) - Police in Florida have been ordered by a judge to pay back nearly $20,000 they seized from a stripper. Judge Rodney Smith ruled in favor of 20-year-old Lizmixell Batista and her husband, Ras Cates, in the case that began with a May traffic stop in Miami. Miami-Dade officers said...

Supreme Court Rules Against Aereo

And rules that police need a warrant to search your phone

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today delivered a major victory for broadcasters by ruling 6-3 that Aereo violated their copyright. Aereo uses thousands of TV antennas to stream content that's freely broadcast over the airwaves to users, who can also choose to record shows to watch later. The ruling may effectively...

US Uses Border Searches to Seize Devices: Manning Ally

Technique allows warrantless search of electronics

(Newser) - If you cross in to or out of the US, the government might seize your electronic devices—whether it's got a warrant or not. David House, a fundraiser for Chelsea Manning's legal defense fund, found that out the hard way in November 2010, after a trip to Mexico....

Court: Feds Can Track Your Location Without a Warrant

But in another case, government says it must admit NSA spying to defendants

(Newser) - The federal government can grab GPS data indicating where you've been directly from your phone carrier without a warrant, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday, saying that the practice was "not per se unconstitutional." Technically, that data is a "business record," meaning...

Supreme Court Needs to Rein In Dog Searches

We need better restrictions on how far police can go: Jeffrey Meyer

(Newser) - It may not be the most high-profile issue on this year's Supreme Court docket, but two cases coming up later this month have the potential to affect our privacy in profound ways, writes Jeffrey A. Meyer in the New York Times . Both involve police dogs, and how far authorities...

Supreme Court Bans Warrantless GPS Tracking

Obama administration had argued that tracking cars didn't constitute a search

(Newser) - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that the government must obtain a warrant before secretly affixing a GPS tracking device to a suspect's car. The case stemmed from an incident in which the FBI placed a tracker on a DC drug dealer's car, with the Obama administration arguing...

Jesse Ventura: I'm Done Standing for National Anthem

He's ticked that a court tossed his case on airport searches

(Newser) - Jesse Ventura says he's so angry that his airport security lawsuit got tossed out of court that he might become a Mexican citizen—or even run for president in this country, reports the AP . The former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler launched a suit against the TSA in January,...

Judge Orders Florida to Stop Welfare Drug Tests

Says it will likely be ruled unconstitutional

(Newser) - A federal judge has ordered Florida to suspend its “suspicionless drug testing” of would-be welfare recipients, writing that “there is a substantial likelihood” that the law requiring such tests will be deemed unconstitutional. The ruling comes thanks to an ACLU lawsuit on behalf of one welfare recipient—an...

Supreme Court Sides With Cops in Warrantless Search

In an 8-1 vote, they rule it was OK to enter apartment based on smell

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has ruled against a Kentucky man who was arrested after police burst into his apartment without a search warrant because they smelled marijuana. The justices, by an 8-1 vote today, reversed a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that threw out the evidence gathered when officers entered Hollis King'...

ACLU Wants Information on How Often Michigan Police Take Data Off Drivers' Cell Phones
Michigan Cops Scan Your
Cell Phone Data: ACLU
in case you missed it
Apr 23, 2011 1:49 PM CDT

Michigan Cops Scan Your Cell Phone Data: ACLU

State police have device that extracts information from mobiles

(Newser) - The ACLU is worried that Michigan state troopers are violating 4th Amendment rights by using a gizmo that quickly scans drivers' cell phones during routine traffic stops and extracts information, reports The Truth About Cars blog . The group accuses the state of dodging Freedom of Information requests on how often...

Jesse Ventura Sues Over Body Scans

Ex-governor argues they constitute unreasonable search and seizure

(Newser) - Jesse Ventura doesn’t want the TSA getting too intimate with “the Body.” The wrestler-turned-governor-turned-conspiracy-peddler has filed a lawsuit complaining that the full-body scanners and pat-downs passengers are subjected to at airports constitute unreasonable search and seizure, the AP reports. The searches are “warrantless and suspicionless,”...

Cops Bust Wrong Pot Party, End Up in Supreme Court

Accidental drug bust has odd consequences

(Newser) - The Supreme Court will today hear the strange case of an accidental drug bust. Police were chasing a suspect through an apartment building in Lexington, Ky., and heard him slam a door somewhere in a hallway—that contained two closed doors. Unsure which was the correct one, they smelled pot...

Feds Secretly X-Raying Cars, Drivers

'Drive-by snooping' latest assault on privacy, say critics

(Newser) - Federal investigators are randomly X-raying vehicles and their drivers in a hunt for terrorists and crooks, triggering howls of outrage from privacy advocates. "This really trips up the creep factor because it's one of those things that you sort of intrinsically think the government shouldn't be doing," says...

Israel Captures Alleged Iranian Arms Ship

Smuggled weapons were headed for Hezbollah, Israel says

(Newser) - Israel has seized a cargo ship it says was being used to smuggle hundreds of tons of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Though the ship has been sequestered, Israel tells the BBC it does not believe the crew was aware of the operation, and that the weapons were...

High Court Skeptical of Strip-Search Case

And sounds skeptical

(Newser) - Savana Redding’s lawyers made their case before the Supreme Court yesterday, condemning the strip-search of a 13-year-old in a hunt for ibuprofen as unreasonable search and seizure. But the justices were skeptical, the LA Times reports, with their questions indicating they were leery of limiting school officials’ powers to...

Texas Cops Accused of Racist Highway Robbery

Black motorists given the choice of handing over property or facing felony charges

(Newser) - Cops in a small Texas town are accused of seizing the property of innocent black motorists to pad their salaries, the Chicago Tribune reports. A federal lawsuit alleges that Tehana police have abused the state's asset-forfeiture law—intended to penalize drug-runners—to extort money and other valuables from out-of-town drivers...

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