John or Jane D. 24CR07427, on December 20, 2024 a search warrant to invade the Instagram accounts of protesters was quashed
This is the UCSB search warrant case. The UCSB Police Department got a search warrant to access the social media accounts related to campus protests. The Warrant wanted identifying information about anyone that even looked at the social media pages. Addison, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, fought against the warrant and won. The warrant was quashed.

This is a case where Addison fought off police overreach on behalf of the UCSB war on Palestine protesters. A group of students at UCSB protested the war on Palestine by conducting a long-term sit in, as students had done on university campuses across the country and throughout the world. During the protests a group of students entered a campus building, Girvetz Hall, and briefly occupied it. They set up tableaus of what education is like in Palestine by turning over desks, scattering debris about, and placing effigies of dead bodies. The UCSB Police Department got search warrants for the protester's social media accounts. Addison battled and got the search warrants quashed.

- Potential Charges: Kidnapping (Penal Code § 207(a)), vandalism (Penal Code § 594(b)(1)), burglary (Penal Code § 459 2nd degree), conspiracy (Penal Code § 182(a)(1)), unlawful assembly (Penal Code § 408), wearing a mask while committing a crime (Penal Code § 185) and trespassing for the purpose of injuring property (Penal Code § 602(k)).
- Exposure: Anyone who may have been charged as the UCSB police suggested in the search warrant would have been facing nine years four months in prison.
- Outcome: The search warrant was quashed and the UCSB police were not given access to the protesters' social media
December 20, 2024. Addison got a call from John or Jane Doe (his client remained anonymous throughout the litigation, and was referred to in the pleadings as John or Jane Doe, the client remains anonymous) saying that he or she got notice from Meta, which owns Instagram, that they had been served with a search warrant for the protesters' two Instagram accounts, @ucsbliberatedzone and @saygenocideucsb. Meta had informed the holders of the Instagram accounts that unless they filed a motion to quash by the next day that they were going to turn the account information over to the UCSB Police.
The information that Meta would be turning over was the names of the people that set up the two accounts, the names of all the people that had posted on the two sites, the names of all the people that had commented on the two cites, the names of all the people that had "liked" a post on the either site, and the names of all the people that had merely looked at the either site.
Addison got a motion to quash filed by the next day. It was no small feat just figuring out who Meta's lawyers were. Then he got a call from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) saying that they wanted to join in the fight against the search warrant. They were willing to write an amicus brief. Addison's motion to quash was heard and the judge took it under submission. The courtroom was packed with protesters, who were perfectly appropriate in court. Addison argued the case, the ACLU attorney, Jake Snow, argued the case, the UCSB Police Department's lawyer argued the case as did the deputy district attorney (DDA) that approved the warrant. The judge told the attorneys to talk and see if they could agree on the scope of the warrant, she took the matter under submission, told the attorneys to file supplemental briefs, and scheduled another court date for her ruling. An agreement was not worked out and everyone returned for her ruling. She gave an indication that she was inclined to quash the warrant. The UCSB Police Department's lawyer argued the case again, but it was clear that the he had not persuaded the judge. Addison decided he was ahead and didn't offer any additional argument. Then the judge quashed the warrant.
Addison thought the UCSB Police Department would try to rewrite the warrant. He got assurances from Meta's attorneys that they would give him notice if they were served with another search warrant. So far that hasn't happened.



















































This is article has mistakes and Addison even emailed the author to ask her to correct them, but they weren't corrected. Addison's last name is misspelled. The article incorrectly says that Jennifer Steel was working with Addison. That is NOT the case, Jennifer Miller was one of the UCSB Police Department's attorneys.





















































