SCOTUS to take cases on police searches of mobile phones

The Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases involving police searches of cell phones.

The cases are the latest of several in recent years that look into the reach of constitutional privacy protections in an age of advanced digital technology. Under the 4th Amendment, most police searches require a warrant to be granted after establishing probable cause before a judge. Current Supreme Court precedent established in the 1969 case Chimel v. California, however, makes an exception allowing police officers to search anything carried by or in the immediate vicinity of a person subject to a valid arrest. Since that case was decided, devices like smartphones have been invented that allow for a person to carry an enormous amount of personal information with them at all times. Privacy advocates argue that allowing police to fully search such devices after any arrest is an unconstitutional privacy violation. The cases before the Court both involve police searches of cell phones following arrests, and have reached different outcomes in lower courts.