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Supreme Court Says Police Must Get Warrant to Search Phones

Jun 25, 2014, 9:34 AM by Eric M. Zeman
updated Jun 25, 2014, 9:52 AM

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled unanimously that police must obtain a warrant before they can search the cell phones of people they arrest. Individual U.S. states vary on whether or not law enforcement agencies must get a warrant to search suspects' cell phones. Today's Supreme Court decision could set precedent for federal law or impact state laws. Earlier this month an appellate court in Georgia also agreed that police need to obtain warrants before they can search cell phones. The cases each involved defendants who were convicted of crimes based on evidence obtained by searches of their cell phones without warrants. Today, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said, "The vast amount of data contained on modern cellphones must be protected from routine inspection."

Associated Press »

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Comments

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This forum is closed.

Jarahawk

Jun 25, 2014, 5:31 PM

Unanimous decision.

I wonder how often that happens?

phonetekmek

It can't be very often. Powerful message sent by the supremes! It's nice to see some protection afforded to us.

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