ACLU files lawsuit against UCSC over phone search warrant

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV) -- ACLU NorCal has filed a motion challenging a warrant to search and seize a student's phone at UC Santa Cruz.

ACLU has criticized the search warrant to confiscate a student's phone as "unconstitutional."

ACLU's motion claims that the warrant gave UCSC Police access to the student's phone "without reasonable limits on time or scope."

The student had previously filed a lawsuit against the university after being banned from the campus for participating in a May 2024 pro-Palestine protest.

The ACLU cited the warrant violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the First and Fourth Amendments, and the California Constitution.

"When the government can look through someone’s photos and internet searches dating back to when they were a fifth grader to find something that might have happened in college, we have a constitutional problem,” ACLU attorney Cheesie Thacher said.

KION reached out to UCSC about the lawsuit and they provided this statement: "Your inquiry relates to an active investigation of vandalism that began prior to the lawsuit, and we do not have anything further to share."