Coming from a district court, I think this ruling could be appealed, but it’s welcome news nevertheless.
never voluntarily unlock it anywhere close to the border.
Isn’t that defined as 100 mile from the border (including international airports)
I believe it’s 100 miles from the border including coastlines but does not include a 100 mile radius around international airports. I don’t remember the source but Ive seen a map that represented it that way.
Also worth noting, this ruling only benefits citizens in that specific district, as other districts aren’t bound by its rulings. Personally I’d recommend having a 2nd device you can use to record your interactions because if they violate your rights your chances of getting their body cam video of it aren’t great.
What if you’re 99 miles and 5279 feet from the border while being questioned? Can you take one more step and be safe?
And are those statute miles or nautical miles?
They’ll probably claim “hot pursuit” as a justification for arresting you.
It would depend on where they initiated contact. For instance, let’s say a cop from City A pulls someone over on the boundary with City B. Even if you pull over on City B’s side, it’s still a valid stop because they initiated it (turned their lights on) while still within their own legal jurisdiction. Even though you’re outside of their jurisdiction at the moment, what matters is that they first initiated contact when it was legal to do so.
100 miles from the border or coastline is like 90% of the population of the country. And I assume that’s a feature, not a bug.
To add, the Great Lakes count as coastline because you can navigate to an international boarder from any of them. That’s how you cover the vast majority of the US population with this loophole.
About a quarter of Indiana is within that zone. https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone
I’m not in that quarter thankfully. Look, let me take my wins when I can. I’m in Indiana.
