Damon Root: Supreme Court To Rule on Cell Phone Privacy

The Fourth Amendment protects our “persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures.” That includes the cell phones in our pockets, and the
many private messages, photos, videos, and GPS location data those
devices contain. But what happens if we get arrested for a minor
(or major) infraction? Do the police now have the lawful right to
search our cell phones for incriminating material without a
warrant? Or does the Constitution still act as a shield?

The U.S. Supreme Court will address those questions next month
when it considers a pair of cases testing the reach of the Fourth
Amendment in the age of the smartphone. As Senior Editor Damon Root
explains, the Court’s response has the potential to impact the
lives of countless of Americans in their dealings with the
police.

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