United States Sixth Circuit

In declaratory judgment suit challenging section 2703(d) of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which authorizes the federal government to require disclosure of the contents of electronic communications in certain circumstances, grant of a motion for declaratory judgment and an injunction prohibiting the government from seizing the contents of any personal e-mail account belonging to plaintiff or certain Ohio residents without notice and an opportunity to be heard is vacated for lack of ripeness where: 1) there was no evidence that the government will conduct an ex parte search of plaintiff's e-mail account in the future; 2) there was uncertainty about what e-mail accounts or what types of accounts the government might investigate; 3) an account owner's expectation of privacy depends on the individual agreement the user has with a provider; and 4) there is no meaningful risk of hardship to the plaintiff.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/11/2008
• Published 07/11/2008

Judges

• Before: BOGGS, Chief Judge;  MARTIN, BATCHELDER, DAUGHTREY, MOORE, COLE, CLAY, GILMAN, GIBBONS, ROGERS, SUTTON, COOK, McKEAGUE, and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Sixth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Steven L. Lane, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellant.  Martin G. Weinberg, Law Offices, Boston, Massachusetts, for Appellee.   ON BRIEF:  Steven L. Lane, Nathan P. Judish, John H. Zacharia, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., Benjamin C. Glassman, Donetta D. Wiethe, Assistant United States Attorneys, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellant.  Martin G. Weinberg, Law Offices, Boston, Massachusetts, Martin Stanley Pinales, Sirkin, Pinales & Schwartz, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellee.  Kevin S. Bankston, Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, California, Patricia L. Bellia, Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, Indiana, Susan A. Freiwald, University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco, California, for Amici Curiae.