the power of various authorities (primarily United States magistrate judges) to issue
warrants with respect to persons or property located within a particular federal judicial
district. It also allows magistrate judges to issue warrants that may be executed outside
of the issuing district, but within another district of the United States. Fed. R. Crim. P.
41(b)(2), (b)(3). Rule 41(b)(5) generally restricts the geographical reach of a warrant’s
execution, if not in another federal district, to “a United States territory, possession, or
commonwealth,” and various diplomatic or consular missions of the United States or
diplomatic residences of the United States located in a foreign state.
DISCUSSION
I.
Standard of Review
We will vacate a finding of civil contempt that rests on a party’s refusal to
comply with a court order if we determine that the district court relied on a mistaken
understanding of the law in issuing its order. United States ex rel. Touhy v. Ragen, 340
U.S. 462, 464–70 (1951). Similarly, we will vacate a district court’s denial of a motion to
quash if we conclude that the denial rested on a mistake of law.18 See In re Subpoena
Issued to Dennis Friedman, 350 F.3d 65, 68–69 (2d Cir. 2003).
It is on the legal predicate for the District Court’s rulings―its analysis of the
Stored Communications Act, in particular, and of the principles of construction set forth
by the Supreme Court in Morrison v. National Australian Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247 (2010)―
that we focus our attention in this appeal.
Our Court has not squarely held what standard governs our review of a district court’s denial
of a motion to quash and its related contempt finding. We need not dwell long on this
threshold question, however, because even a deferential abuse‐of‐discretion review
incorporates a de novo examination of the district court’s rulings of law, such as we conduct
here. See, e.g., In re Grand Jury Subpoena Issued June 18, 2009, 593 F.3d 155, 157 (2d Cir. 2010).
18
19
Seleccionar párrafo de destino3
Conectar a un párrafo
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Añadir a la tabla de contenidos