A federal judge governed On Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials violated the Fourth Amendment Rights of Osama Abu Irshaid, the managing director of American Muslims for Palestinewhen they searched his cellphones twice at a U.S. international airport in 2024 Retaliation in violation of the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff of the Eastern District of Virginia issued the ruling following a trial in May. Dr. Irshaid, a US citizen, sued the government after CBP officers conducted a forensic search of his phones upon his return to the country in 2024. At the time, Irshaid was carrying two cell phones and offered one of his phones to the officers for a search. One of the CBP officers on scene noted that “people who are out with burner phones are trying to hide something.”
The court noted that CBP Officer Scott Cowles cited, among other things, May 2024 when he requested authorization for the forensic search letter by Congressman James Comer of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. The letter alleged misconduct by Irshaid’s organization as well as financial ties to Hamas.
The court concluded that the letter, along with the other information Cowles relied on, was untrue reasonable suspicion required to justify a non-routine forensic search of a U.S. citizen’s phone. Judge Nachmanoff wrote that the evidence linking Irshaid to national security concerns was too flimsy to justify the searches.
However, on the First Amendment retaliation claim, Judge Nachmanoff ruled in favor of the government. He held that while the searches were constitutionally unreasonable, the evidence did not prove that CBP officers harbored any “retaliatory hostility” toward Irshaid’s pro-Palestinian advocacy. The court concluded that the officers had acted based on a “well-intentioned independent error of judgment” and not out of hostility to protected speech.
The court ordered both parties to submit a briefing on the issue of appropriate remedies within 21 days.
