NDO Fairness Act of 2026

The NDO Fairness Act of 2026 aims to reform the process by which federal law enforcement agencies obtain non-disclosure orders (NDOs), often called "gag orders." Currently, when the government issues a warrant to a service provider like Apple or Google for a user's private emails or data, it can also obtain an NDO to prevent the company from notifying the user about the search. This bill would raise the legal standard the government must meet to obtain such an order, requiring prosecutors to prove that notifying the user would result in a specific, identified harm, such as endangering a person's life or resulting in the destruction of evidence.

If enacted, the bill would require courts to issue written findings justifying why secrecy is necessary and would generally limit the duration of these orders to 90 days. It would also grant service providers the right to challenge these orders in court. By aligning the rules for digital searches more closely with those for physical searches, the bill proposes to ensure that citizens are eventually notified when their private electronic communications have been searched, allowing them to assert their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.