US Fed judge: it might be unconstitutional to go fishing through your hard-drive at the border just because you support Bradley Manning

A rare moment of sanity from the US courts relating to Bradley Manning: David Maurice House, an MIT researcher and high profile supporter of Manning has been given the go-ahead to sue the US government for punitively searching his stuff when he came back to the USA after a holiday in Mexico.

"Although the agents may not need to have any particularized suspicion for the initial search and seizure at the border for the purpose of the Fourth Amendment analysis, it does not necessarily follow that the agents, as is alleged in the complaint, may seize personal electronic devices containing expressive materials, target someone for their political association and seize his electronic devices and review the information pertinent to that association and its members and supporters simply because the initial search occurred at the border," U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper wrote.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTSPDF

Politically Motivated Border Searches Could Be Unconstitutional, Judge Rules (Wired.com/Kim Zetter)