Bio
Nathan Freed Wessler (@NateWessler) is a deputy director with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, where he focuses on litigation and advocacy around surveillance and privacy issues, including government searches of electronic devices, requests for sensitive data held by third parties, and use of surveillance technologies. In 2017, he argued Carpenter v. United States in the U.S. Supreme Court, a case that established that the Fourth Amendment requires law enforcement to get a search warrant before requesting cell phone location data from a person’s cellular service provider.
Nate was previously a staff attorney in the Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project and legal fellow in the ACLU National Security Project. Prior to that, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Helene N. White of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Nate is a graduate of Swarthmore College and New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern public interest scholar. Before law school, he worked as a field organizer in the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office.
Featured work
![Search of a bag at the border](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-cbpbagsearch-1160x768-400x266.png)
May 9, 2018
Another Federal Court Rules the Fourth Amendment Applies at the Border
![Cell phone towers](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-cellphonetower-1160x768-v2-400x266.jpg)
Jun 5, 2017
The Supreme Court Will Decide Whether Police Need a Warrant for Sensitive Cell Phone Data
![ICE Raid](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-iceraid-1160x768-400x266.jpg)
May 23, 2017
ICE Using Powerful Stingray Surveillance Devices In Deportation Searches
![Security Check at the Airport](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-securitycheckairport-1160x768_0-400x266.jpg)
Mar 14, 2017
¿Los agentes fronterizos pueden inspeccionar sus dispositivos electrónicos? Es un tema complicado.
![Security Check at the Airport](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-securitycheckairport-1160x768_0-400x266.jpg)
Mar 14, 2017
Can Border Agents Search Your Electronic Devices? It’s Complicated.
![Front door of FCC building](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/fcc_by_stephen_melkisethian_credit-400x266.jpg)
Sep 1, 2016
FCC Needs to Impose Strong Protections Around Stingray Use
![Baltimore Drone Footage - protest](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/blog-drones-feature-1160x768-v01-400x266.jpg)
Aug 4, 2016
FBI Releases Secret Spy Plane Footage From Freddie Gray Protests
![Image of plane circling in sky over radio tower](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/aerial_surveillance_by_picturenarrative_credit-400x266.jpg)
Mar 17, 2016
ACLU Releases New FOIA Documents on Aerial Cell Phone Surveillance
![Justice figure statue holding cell phone](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/justice_figure_with_cell_phone-400x266.jpg)
Jan 25, 2016
New Evidence Shows Milwaukee Police Hide Stingray Usage From Courts and Defense
![Cell phone next to gavel](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/gavel_cell_phone-400x266.jpg)
Dec 29, 2015
Maryland Court Considering Key Question on Legality of Stingray Use