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Jonathan Walker v. Arkansas

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Arkansas, No. CR-22-572 · judgment May 17, 2023


Certiorari denied · April 29, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 8% cert probability (95% interval 5%–11%)

Before the decision, about 1.9× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Question presented

Technology companies automatically scan trillions of digital files that are uploaded onto their servers, including emails and photographs. Their algorithms can scan for anything, from faces in photographs to the content of digital files stored in online file storage systems. The question presented is: Does the Fourth Amendment require police to get a warrant before they open a digital file that was flagged by a private technology company’s computer program as potentially containing illegal content but that no human being has previously opened?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Easha Anand
Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic

For respondent
Nicholas Jacob Bronni
Solicitor General of Arkansas

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Linked docket
23A446

Proceedings

  1. Apr 29 2024
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 10 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/26/2024.
  3. Apr 10 2024
    Reply of petitioner Jonathan Walker filed. (Distributed)
  4. Mar 22 2024
    Brief of respondent Arkansas in opposition filed.
  5. Feb 16 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 22, 2024)
  6. Nov 17 2023
    Application (23A446) granted by Justice Kavanaugh extending the time to file until February 16, 2024.
  7. Nov 15 2023
    Application (23A446) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 20, 2023 to February 16, 2024, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh.