In this particular case, there are also 5th amendment issues with the Miranda warnings.
The CBP officers repeatedly ignored the defendant’s requests for a lawyer, and they continued to question him anyway. Then, the defendant allegedly told them the “unlock” / duress code.
There’s existing case law in the US that phone unlock codes are “testimony” within the 5th amendment’s right to remain silent, so a search warrant cannot compel someone to divulge them. (This is different from a phone unlock fingerprint, which can be compelled with a warrant).
I halfway expect the government to argue somewhat against this case law, but who knows? DOJ is now scraping the very bottom of the barrel to find lawyers, so sometimes it’s hard to tell if they have any kind of coherent plan at all.
In this particular case, there are also 5th amendment issues with the Miranda warnings.
The CBP officers repeatedly ignored the defendant’s requests for a lawyer, and they continued to question him anyway. Then, the defendant allegedly told them the “unlock” / duress code.
There’s existing case law in the US that phone unlock codes are “testimony” within the 5th amendment’s right to remain silent, so a search warrant cannot compel someone to divulge them. (This is different from a phone unlock fingerprint, which can be compelled with a warrant).
I halfway expect the government to argue somewhat against this case law, but who knows? DOJ is now scraping the very bottom of the barrel to find lawyers, so sometimes it’s hard to tell if they have any kind of coherent plan at all.