In the shadow of the highly controversial “Hobby Lobby” case in which the US Supreme Court held corporations can state religious objections to employee health care benefits that are incongruent with their own religious beliefs — the US Supreme Court also imposed substantial limitations on post-arrest cell phone searches.
This is a major win for criminal defense attorneys, civil libertarians, librarians and constitutionalists. In a nutshell, law enforcement must get a search warrant before searching the cellphone of the arrestee. Of course, there are exceptions to the warrant requirement including issues regarding officer safety and safety of the community. Also of note, was the unanimous 9-0 ruling from a bench that is not always in agreement on legal issues presented.
“Modern Cellphones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many American’s the privacies of life”, Chief Justice John Roberts said. Chief Justice Roberts also said authorities concerned with the destruction of evidence can take steps to prevent the remote erasure of a phone’s contents or the activation of encryption.
Below are links to articles recently published in The Columbian regarding the Supreme Court cellphone search case:
