Microsoft fights US in high court to protect global business

WASHINGTON (AP) - Microsoft has an eye on its international customers as it confronts the Trump administration in a Supreme Court fight about turning over emails to investigators.

The justices will hear arguments Tuesday over whether the company, as part of a drug trafficking investigation, must comply with an American warrant for emails stored on a server in a Microsoft facility in Ireland.

The case turns on a 1986 law, enacted long before the advent of cloud computing and data storage on servers around the world.

A federal appeals court agreed with Microsoft that the emails were beyond the warrant's reach because they're kept outside the U.S.

Microsoft's president says the case is about the technology sector's need "to give customers around the world confidence that they can rely on us."