The New York Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether Facebook can challenge the constitutionality of search warrants served by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for information on 381 users’ accounts.[1] These warrants were issued in 2013 as part of an investigation into whether New York City police officers, firefighters and others had participated in a scheme to fraudulently receive Social Security disability benefits.[2] Facebook was unsuccessful to suppress the warrants and was denied by two state Supreme Court justices and the Appellate Division, First Department, which also ruled that Facebook lacks authority to challenge the constitutionality of the warrants.[3] At oral arguments at the Court of Appeals, Facebook contended that it had standing to contest the warrants under the Stored Communications Act (the “SCA”), a 1986 law that allows Internet service providers to contest such warrants,[4] because assisting in an unconstitutional search of its users’ data is an “undue burden” under the statute.[5] They also argued that the privacy of all 8 million New Yorker’s is at stake if it is forced to comply with warrants from law enforcement.[6] Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. personally argued before the Court of Appeals, saying that his office acted properly when seeking the broad search warrant for information from over 300 Facebook accounts.[7] He further argued that Facebook did not have the right to challenge the warrant on users’ behalf.[8] The six-judge panel will rule on the case in the coming weeks.
[1] Joel Stashenko, Facebook Seeks to Argue Unconstitutionality of User Account Warrants in NY Court, New York Law Journal (Feb. 3, 2017) http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/home/id=1202778428527/Facebook-Seeks-to-Argue-Unconstitutionality-of-User-Account-Warrants-in-NY-Court?mcode=1202617075062&curindex=1&slreturn=20170107162529
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, Does Facebook Have the Right to Challenge Search Warrants Seeking Facebook Users’ Data? New York’s Highest Court Hears Argument, Lexology (Feb. 9, 2017) http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=bf9d9824-3e61-46f9-bcf8-1c542a3cf1ca.
[5] Id.
[6] Julia Marsh, What DA’s battle with Facebook could mean for your privacy, NY Post (Feb. 7, 2017) http://nypost.com/2017/02/07/what-das-battle-with-facebook-could-mean-for-your-privacy/.
[7] Stephen Rex Brown, Manhattan DA Cy Vance defends using search warrant to review 300 Facebook users in fraud case, NY Daily News (Feb. 7, 2017) http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/manhattan-da-facebook-stop-search-warrant-article-1.2966762.
[8] Id.