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Naray Palaniappan v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 19-1660 · judgment March 17, 2020

Certiorari denied · October 5, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 7% cert probability (95% interval 5%–11%)

Before the decision, about 1.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Second Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).

Questions presented

  1. Where a warrant application requested authorization to search computers “wherever located” but the warrant itself (1) stated that the application was to “search [] property located in the Eastern District of Virginia,” (2) omitted the “wherever located” language in describing the computers, and (3) failed to incorporate the application, can government agents rely in good faith on the warrant to search a computer in New York?

  2. Where a search warrant fails to “particularly describ[e] the place to be searched,” U.S. Const. Amend. IV, but rather purports to authorize searches of “computers that are those of any user or administrator who logs into” a publicly accessible website, can government agents rely in good faith on the warrant to search thousands of computers around the world?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Zachary Alexander Margulis-Ohnuma
ZMO Law PLLC

For respondent
Jeffrey B. Wall
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 05 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jul 15 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  3. Jul 08 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  4. Jun 16 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 3, 2020)