California Municipal Law Blog
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Search and Seizure

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Cell Phones May Not Be Searched Incident to Arrest

by 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

tags: Cell phones, Fourth Amendment, Search and Seizure,