Microsoft V. US (2018)

The case of United States v. Microsoft Corporation, which centered on whether a U.S. warrant could compel Microsoft to disclose emails stored on servers abroad. The initial warrant sought emails related to a drug trafficking investigation stored in Dublin, Ireland. Microsoft challenged the warrant, arguing it was an extraterritorial application of U.S. law, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Microsoft. However, the case became moot after Congress passed the CLOUD Act, which mandates that service providers comply with warrants regardless of data location. Consequently, the Supreme Court vacated the previous judgment and remanded the case, instructing lower courts to dismiss it, as the CLOUD Act resolved the central legal question. Ultimately, the enactment of the CLOUD Act caused the case to be dismissed because the US government obtained a new warrant under this new law. Click HERE for the case documents.