In a triumph for Fourth Amendment rights, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that police generally may not, without a warrant, search digital information on a cell phone seized from an individual incident to arrest. This holding comes from the recent decision of the Court in Riley v. California and companion case United States v. Wurie.

Chief Justice Roberts unequivocally wrote in his majority opinion “Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple— get a warrant.”  The Court declined to expand search incident to arrest to include a search of the data stored on an arrestee’s cell phone because it does not further the government interests justifying these types of searches in the past such as prevention of destruction of evidence or prevention of harm to officers.

The Court further rejected any expansion of search incident to arrest because it implicates far greater individual privacy interests than the brief physical search generally involved in a search incident to arrest. The amount of personal information a person stores on today’s smartphones or even standard cell phones is far greater than they could ever carry on their person otherwise.

In response to the United States’ argument that a search of all the data stored on a cell is materially indistinguishable from the previously allowed search of physical items found incident to arrest, Chief Justice Roberts had this to say “That is like saying a ride on horseback is materially indistinguishable from a flight to the moon. Both are ways of getting from point A to point B, but little else justifies lumping them together.” As an interesting aside, this is the same Chief Justice Roberts who, during oral arguments for the companion case Wurie, seemed a bit shocked at the proposition by defense counsel that it is far from uncommon that an individual may carry more than one cell phone at a time.

If you, or someone you know, has a search or seizure issue or has been charged with a crime of any type, call Minneapolis - St. Paul criminal defense attorney John J. Leunig for a free phone consultation at (952) 540-6800.