Yet another court has passed up the opportunity to decide whether social media platforms interfere with defendants’ right to a fair trial when they refuse to hand over users’ communications.

In an opinion Thursday, the California Supreme Court decided that it will not rule on the constitutional questions in a case brought by criminal defendant Lance Touchstone, who is seeking the Facebook messages of a shooting victim to help exonerate him of an attempted-murder charge. The court said it is reluctant to adjudicate the matters when the underlying subpoena might not be enforceable.

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