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Can Border Agents Search Your Phone Without Any Suspicion?
Federal CrimesSep 22

Can Border Agents Search Your Phone Without Any Suspicion?

The Second Circuit ruled on September 17 in United States v. Alisigwe that CBP officers can manually look through a traveler's phone at the border with no warrant and no suspicion. The court left open whether copying or forensically analyzing a phone needs more.

Federal CrimesAug 31

The Supreme Court Said a Geofence Warrant Is a Search. It Did Not Say the Evidence Comes Out.

Chatrie v. United States settled that police search you when they pull your Google Location History. It left warrant validity and the good-faith exception wide open, and no federal appellate court has yet ordered geofence evidence suppressed.

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Federal CrimesAug 30

A Texas Judge Struck Down NFA Registration for Suppressors and Short-Barreled Rifles. Here Is What the Injunction Actually Covers.

Judge James Wesley Hendrix enjoined core NFA registration provisions on August 5, 2026, and the injunction became operative August 13 after a seven-day stay expired. The relief is party-specific, not nationwide, and § 5861(j) and the entire Gun Control Act remain fully chargeable against everyone.

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Federal CrimesAug 29

A Judge Denied Him Acceptance of Responsibility for Filing a Suppression Motion. The Ninth Circuit Just Vacated That Sentence.

In United States v. Aguilera, the Ninth Circuit held that a district court misapprehended the law when it denied a two-level acceptance-of-responsibility reduction because the defendant filed a suppression motion and preserved his appeal. The conviction stands, but the 45-month sentence is vacated, and the arithmetic behind the remand is worth understanding.

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Federal CrimesAug 24

Nine Justices Threw Out a Gun Charge Against a Marijuana User and Left the Statute Standing: What Hemani Actually Gives You

In United States v. Hemani, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed dismissal of a §922(g)(3) indictment against a man who admitted using marijuana every other day, exposure the government pegged at up to 15 years plus lifetime disarmament. But the judgment was 9-0 while the opinion was 7-2, the ruling was as-applied rather than facial, and the Court expressly refused to decide five separate prosecution theories. The statute is still law. Here is what the decision gives a defendant, and what it does not.

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Federal CrimesAug 12

Federal Judges No Longer Have to Put You on Supervised Release: The November 1 Rewrite That Ended Automatic Post-Prison Supervision

For nearly forty years the federal guidelines told judges to impose supervised release on almost every prison sentence over a year. Amendment 835 deleted that instruction effective November 1, 2025. Statutes actually required supervision in only 22 percent of the cases where courts imposed it, which means roughly four out of five federal supervision terms now sit inside a discretionary framework that did not exist before. Here is what changed, who it reaches, and what people already on supervision can file today.

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