Posted on 04/30/2014 7:34:14 AM PDT by PoloSec
If you’re arrested, can police search through your cell phone without first obtaining a warrant?
Unfortunately, the law regarding cell phones searches has been unclear especially in the rise of smart phones.
The Supreme Court heard two cases today about whether the police need warrants to search detainee’s mobile phones. Both of these cases, Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie, involve suspects getting charged for additional crimes after the police found evidence on their cell phones after their arrest. The lower courts have been torn on the privacy issue.
This case should have huge implications as 12 million Americans are arrested every single year and most carry cell phones.
One side argues that cell phones, like wallets or purses, may be subject to search after an arrest. For better or for worse, the court has long upheld that police can search these personal items and anything "immediately associated" with the person involved without a warrant.
The other side, correctly, argues that police need to get a search warrant before searching someone’s cell phone. In today’s world, searching through someone’s phone can be as intrusive as searching through their home.
“A cell phone has the same contents that the home did in the founding era, it has digital equivalents of papers, letters, drawings, private financial documents, private medical documents,” said Jim Harper, an attorney with the libertarian Cato Institute. “It’s a digital incarnation of the contents of the home.”
This is particularly true of young people who seemingly keep their entire lives on their phones. I’d argue that cell phones are in a different category than wallets because it stores so much private and sensitive information about a person.
As the Electronic Frontier Foundation says, a cell phone search "would likely reveal an individual's medical history, religious beliefs, political affiliations, network of friends, colleagues, intimate associates and acquaintances.”
The way people many people use cell phones today is no different than a computer. If police have to get a warrant to search through someone’s computer, then yes, they need one to search through someone’s cell phone. This should be a no brainer.
A commonly asked question is, “how do we juggle civil liberties in a digital age?” I’d say that civil liberties should always be upheld, no matter what. We should all remain vigilant about our Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures.
This doesn't change simply because technology has progressed:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Let's hope the Supreme Court makes the right call.
If they get to look through ours, we should get to look through theirs.
If the phone is password protected, doesn’t the right not to divulge that information fall under ‘remaining silent’?
They are invoking “officer safety”, as usual: “what if you are in a gang, AND you sent a text as you were getting pulled over saying you “are gonna need some help”, AND the USA has become the Mad Max world so your army of thugs might actually show up in the next two minutes, that’s why we need to search your phone RIGHT NOW”.
It’s a tax.
Let’s see if this so called “conservative” SCOTUS keeps hurling us down the road to totalitarianism.
It should, but it hasn’t worked for people bringing in their own laptops returning from a business trip out of the country.
I’ve read that they need a warrant to check a locked glove compartment, so I’ve been making it a practice to put my phone in there when I’m driving. Screw ‘em.
In a different time and era, I would have no problem with worrying about this, as I knew then that the US Supreme Court would follow the US Constitution, the same that I have taken and sworn a lifetime oath to.
Nowadays?
I worry. The Constitution hasn’t changed, but the quality of the men and women who are sworn to follow her has been greatly degraded and corrupted.
No matter, the outcome is in their hands. May they be truly judged for their decisions by an even Higher (non-temporal) Court!
What if that person makes a phone call and does it verbally? Should the person being detained be forced to divulge the message they sent verbally?
Treat it as a wallet unless it is password protected. Then it is equivalent to a home filing cabinet (secure in their persons and papers)
The police do not want to search the cell phone, they want to 1. plant data 2. erase any police misconduct evidence.
If they have the phone in their possession, they can petition for a warrant based on the grounds of the arrest.
After you record the police, text it to a trusted friend.
encryption and a password.
tools like dropbox will automatically copy photos and video from the phone to a computer. assuming the phone has network access.
Why is this rocket science:
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Install the OpenWatch app. (openwatch.net)
It will stream audio and video instantly from your phone to a website for all the public to view. No cops deleting videos, it is LIVE, and will be recorded and stored on the website if needed in the future. Free.
Excellent insight. Well played sir! Yes, I believe it should be considered remaining silent.
I’ll be looking forward to the Wise Latina’s take on this.
She’ll probably go for it unless you have a Obamaphone because that would be Racist.
If you’re an NBA Owner, all bets are off.
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