U.S. Supreme Court Rules Cell Phones May Not Be Searched Incident to Arrest
by Daniel S. Roberts on June 30, 2014
posted in Fourth Amendment, Search and Seizure,
On June 25, 2014, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that police may not rely on the search-incident-to-lawful-arrest exception to justify a search of an arrestee’s cell phone. This holding directly disapproves the California Supreme Court’s 2011 holding in People v. Diaz, which previously authorized such searches. Officers wishing to search the contents of an arrestee’s cell phone must now either obtain a search warrant or rely on another exception to the warrant requirement. ... Continue Reading
