EPIC Urges Supreme Court to Limit Police Access to Identity Documents
EPIC filed an amicus brief in Tolentino v. New York, a Supreme Court case concerning police access to government databases, enabled by patrol cars with Mobile Device Terminals. EPIC urged the Court to uphold Fourth Amendment protections for the Petitioner, who asserted that police had no basis for pulling him over and running his license. EPIC's brief states that "the risk is real that car stops will increasingly become pretextual because of the opportunity to search a government database for data unrelated to the reason that gave rise to the original stop." EPIC has filed briefs in related cases, including Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District, in which the Supreme Court upheld, by a 5-4 margin, a state identification law because the individual did not have to produce his drivers license. In that case, Justice Stevens wrote "a name can provide the key to a broad array of information about the person, particularly in the hands of a police officer with access to a range of law enforcement databases." For more information, see EPIC: Tolentino v. NY, EPIC: Herring v. US, and EPIC: Drivers Privacy Protection Act.
January 18, 2011| Share:
