| Van Buren v. United States | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued November 30, 2020 Decided June 3, 2021 | |
| Full case name | Nathan Van Buren v. United States |
| Docket no. | 19-783 |
| Citations | 593 U.S. 374 (more) 141 S. Ct. 1648, 210 L. Ed. 2d 26 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | |
| Holding | |
| An individual "exceeds authorized access" when he accesses a computer with authorization but then obtains information located in particular areas of the computer—such as files, folders, or databases—that are off-limits to him. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Barrett, joined by Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh |
| Dissent | Thomas, joined by Roberts, Alito |
| Laws applied | |
| Computer Fraud and Abuse Act | |
Van Buren v. United States, 593 U.S. 374 (2021), was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and its definition of "exceeds authorized access" in relation to one intentionally accessing a computer system they have authorization to access. In June 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6–3 opinion that one "exceeds authorized access" by accessing off-limit files and other information on a computer system they were otherwise authorized to access. The CFAA's language had long created a 4–3 circuit split in case law that led to the failed introduction of Aaron's Law, and this decision narrowed the applicability of CFAA in prosecuting cybersecurity and computer crime.