En Banc 2nd Circuit Tackles Data Retention

Stan Twardy, Dan Wenner and John Cerreta were mentioned in an article, “En Banc 2nd Circuit Tackles Data Retention,” in the Courthouse News Service for representing Stavros Ganias in a rare en banc sitting. The case arose out of the government’s investigation into Ganias, an accountant. During its investigation, pursuant to a search warrant, the government seized Ganias’s hard drives for information about two of his clients. Years later, agents obtained a second warrant for information from those same hard drives, which they used to convict Ganias. A panel of the Second Circuit suppressed the evidence seized pursuant to the second warrant and vacated the conviction. The Second Circuit then took the case en banc to reconsider the issue. During the session Twardy argued that allowing the government to retain a computer indefinitely for verification would improperly create what he called an "authentication exception to the Fourth Amendment," referring to the Constitution's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures.