Bio
Nathan Freed Wessler () 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
Feb 28, 2014
What Does a Soviet Submarine Have to Do With U.S. Government Secrecy?
Feb 12, 2014
Court Rules Feds Need Warrant to Access Drug Prescriptions Database
Jan 15, 2014
In Court Today: Defending Medical Records from Warrantless Search
Nov 15, 2013
Government Refusing To Say Whether Phone Tracking Evidence Came From Mass Surveillance
Oct 22, 2013
VICTORY! Federal Appeals Court Rules Warrant Required for GPS Tracking
Sep 24, 2013
The DEA Thinks You Have “No Constitutionally Protected Privacy Interest” in Your Confidential Prescription Records
Jul 18, 2013
ACLU Challenges 67 Days of Warrantless Cell Phone Location Tracking
May 8, 2013
FBI Documents Suggest Feds Read Emails Without a Warrant
Apr 16, 2013
IRS Says It Will Respect 4th Amendment With Regard to Email, But Questions Remain