UNITED STATES V. MOHAMUD
43
For these reasons, and because the target of the
surveillance was a non-U.S. person located outside of the
United States at the time of the surveillance, the government
was not required to obtain a search warrant to collect
Mohamud’s email communications with the overseas foreign
national as an incident to its lawful search of the foreign
national’s email.25
b. Collection of Mohamud’s Emails was
Reasonable
Assuming that Mohamud had a Fourth Amendment right
in the incidentally collected communications, the search at
issue was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.26
“Even if a warrant is not required, a search is not beyond
Fourth Amendment scrutiny; for it must be reasonable in its
scope and manner of execution.” Maryland v. King, 133 S.
25
Because the incidental collection excepts this search from the
Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement, we need not address any
“foreign intelligence exception.”
26
It is unclear whether Mohamud had a right to bar use of these
incidentally-collected communications in evidence against him on the
basis that the communications were seized in violation of the Fourth
Amendment. Commentators suggest that he does, so we will assume that
here. See, e.g., Orin S. Kerr, The Fourth Amendment and the Global
Internet, 67 Stan. L. Rev. 285, 313–14 (2015) (“Communicating with a
person who lacks Fourth Amendment rights should not waive the rights
of the person who has those rights. The Fourth Amendment should
continue to fully protect the U.S. person who communicates with those
lacking Fourth Amendment rights.”); PCLOB Report at 94 (“The
government has acknowledged that the Fourth Amendment rights of U.S.
persons are affected when their communications are acquired under
Section 702 incidentally or otherwise[.]”).
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