DOJ Seeks Supreme Court Review of Fight With Microsoft to Get User's Data Stored Abroad

DOJ formally sought a Supreme Court hearing on its fight against Microsoft, which prevailed last year in refusing to comply with a government search warrant to hand over a customer's emails stored in a server in Ireland. In January, the 2nd U.S. Circuit of Appeals denied Justice an en banc hearing (see 1701240057) to review a three-judge panel's decision that sided with Microsoft. DOJ filed a writ of certiorari Friday, saying the 2nd Circuit panel "seriously misinterpreted the Stored Communications Act. ... The panel reached that unprecedented holding by reasoning that such a disclosure would be an extraterritorial application of the Act -- even though the warrant requires disclosure in the United States of information that the provider can access domestically with the click of a computer mouse." Microsoft Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith blogged Friday that "it seems backward to keep arguing in court when there is positive momentum in Congress toward better law for everyone." He said DOJ is putting companies "in impossible conflict-of-law situations," and harming Americans' security, jobs and personal rights. Recent congressional hearings focused on DOJ's push for bilateral agreements with the U.K. and potentially other countries to share criminal information in investigations about individuals, which U.S. providers largely have supported (see 1706150061 and 1705240040).