On June 3, 2021, in a 6-3 decision that created a diverse majority—uniting the most recent conservative additions—Justices Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch—with the more liberal Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, the Supreme Court resolved a split among the Circuit courts regarding the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (the CFAA), The language of the CFAA creates civil and criminal liability for intentional access of a computer if that access is either “without authorization” or “exceeding authorized access.” In Van Buren v. United States, the Supreme Court granted review to determine whether someone who was authorized to use a computer system exceeded authorized access under the CFAA by using that computer system to access information for an unauthorized purpose. Justice Barrett wrote the majority opinion which determined that using information from a computer system for unpermitted purposes would not “exceed authorized access” under the CFAA if the user was otherwise authorized to access that information using the computer. Continue Reading