Another SCOTUS punt

Yesterday, The Supreme Court waded cautiously into an issue that surrounds workplaces and offices throughout the country: i.e., whether employers have the right to review workers’ computer, cellphone, and text messages on devices owned by the employers.  The decision represented a preliminary effort to define public employees’ Fourth Amendment rights in the digital age.  The decision was extremely narrow and according to Justice Kennedy, closely tied to the facts.

Kennedy refused to establish far reaching rules concerning privacy expectations of workers using company equipment.  The court admitted its unfamiliarity with many new technical issues and refused to do more than stick its toe into the high tech communication morass. Kennedy stated that “technology may be changing faster than the courts can accommodate”.

Justice Scalia was his usual cantankerous self,  finding fault with the decision calling it “exaggerated and opaque” alleging that the other justices disregarded their duty.

The majority chose to not delve too deeply into a world of technology that they admitted at oral argument was a bit foreign to them.