Jun 26 2014
In a Major Victory for Privacy Advocates, Supreme Court Says Police Require Warrants for Cell Phone Searches
The Supreme Court in a major ruling yesterday, unanimously decided that law enforcement authorities needed warrants before searching the cell phones of people arrested. Until now, police did not need to obtain warrants to examine phones.
The ruling was made in connection to two separate but similar cases. One of them involved a San Diego man who was convicted on charges related to information found on his phone even though he was arrested for an unrelated offense of having an expired registration. The man in question says he will be seeking a new trial in light of the ruling.
Writing for the court majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said the decision was based in part on the fact that cellphones are a, “pervasive and insistent part of daily life.” He did however concede that the ruling might make law enforcement harder.
GUEST: Shahid Buttar, Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Visit www.bordc.org for more information.
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