Justices Grapple with Technology in Cop’s Privacy Suit Involving Steamy Text Messages
U.S. Supreme Court justices had some questions about pager technology in a suit that contends a police officer’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated when supervisors read his steamy text messages sent on a department-issued device.
What happens, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wanted to know, if the officer “is on the pager and sending a message and they are trying to reach him for, you know, a SWAT team crisis? Does the one kind of trump the other, or do they get a busy signal?” Several publications noted technology questions by the justices. They include the National Law Journal, DC Dicta, True/Slant, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog and the New York Times.
At other points during the oral argument yesterday, Roberts asked about the difference between e-mail and a pager, and Justice Antonin Scalia appeared surprised that text messages are routed through the service provider, according to DC Dicta. “You mean [the text] doesn’t go right to me?” he asked.
The National Law Journal summarized the arguments this way: “By the end of arguments in City of Ontario, Calif. v. Quon, some justices, unfamiliar at first with the ins and outs of text technology, appeared better informed, but Jeffrey Quon’s expectation of victory appeared to decline.”
Quon, the police officer, had signed an acknowledgment that he had no expectation of privacy when using computers or other devices issued by the city, but his supervisor had told officers their personal text messages sent on city pagers wouldn’t be audited if they paid when their usage exceeded monthly limits.
According to the Los Angeles Times, several justices appeared to focus on the fact that as a police officer, Quon had no expectation of privacy since police communications are often monitored. Roberts, on the other hand, appeared to support Quon.
“Couldn’t he assume his private messages were his own business?” Roberts asked. “I think if I pay for it, it’s mine.”
Prior coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Police De-text-ive”
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
