In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police could not search an individual’s cell phone in most situations without a proper search warrant. While police agencies argued that looking through the phone was no different than asking someone to turn out their pockets, the court disagreed, saying that cell phones were more personal.
The Court’s decision amends legal understanding of privacy rights for the 21st century, expanding the protections offered individuals.
“The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. “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.”
Throughout the decision the court acknowledged that cellphones were different from other informal searches because they both carry so much more data and that such data is qualitatively different than what someone might otherwise be carrying. With cell phone information, police could track a person’s movements “down to the minute” or access sensitive personal information. The court compared such a search to “ransacking [someone’s] house for everything which may incriminate him.”
The court did allow for searches in emergency circumstances, such as major security threats.
