Smart phone searches by police should raise alarm

[Commentary] The more we hear about President Obama's attitude toward privacy, the less we like. The latest eyebrow-raiser is the Administration's argument that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless cell phone searches.

The Administration asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue, arguing that a cell phone is no different from any other object a suspect might be carrying, such as a notebook, calendar or address book. Hogwash. Technological advances in the years ahead will only make it easier for police and the government to access information that Americans reasonably expect to be private. If the courts swing the door wide to that access based on existing law, which never envisioned this technology, it will be up to Congress and the states to restore privacy rights. It doesn't look like the president's going to help.