The Independent View: SCOTUS Will Hear Email Records Case Against Microsoft

The Highest-Profile Supreme Court Grant of the Day came in United States v. Microsoft Corp., in which the Justices agreed to Decide whether an Email Provider who has been Served with a Warrant must Provide the Federal Government with Emails, even when the Email Records are Stored Outside the United States.

The Case arose when the Federal Government asked for a Warrant that would require the Microsoft to Disclose Information about a Specific Email Account, which the Government believed was being used for Drug Trafficking. The Government relied on the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, also known as the Stored Communications Act (SCA), which Authorizes the Government to use a Warrant to obtain Email Records when it has probable cause to believe a Crime is being Committed. A Federal Judge issued the Warrant, which was served on Microsoft at its Headquarters in Washington State.

Microsoft Refused to hand over the Contents of the Emails in the Accounts. It argued that, because the Emails were stored Overseas, the SCA did not apply to them. The Company was unsuccessful at the Trial level, but it found a more sympathetic audience in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, which Declined to Enforce the Warrant. An evenly divided Full Court of Appeals denied Rehearing En Banc.

The Federal Government took its Case to the Supreme Court. The United States complained that, as a Result of the 2nd Circuit’s Ruling, “the government cannot require a U.S. service provider to disclose to the government, in the United States, emails and related information that the provider, for its own business reasons, has stored abroad.”

Describing that Holding as “unprecedented,” the Government told the Justices that “the decision is causing immediate, grave, and ongoing harm to public safety, national security, and the enforcement of our laws.” “Under this opinion,” the Government continued, “hundreds if not thousands of investigations of crimes—ranging from terrorism, to child pornography, to fraud—are being or will be hampered by the government’s inability to obtain electronic evidence.”