Have the privacy protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution disappeared in the current digital age? If you are active on such social media platforms as Facebook and Instagram, you might harbor some doubts. However, you can rest assured that at least some of your technological activity is protected. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Riley v. California that the police must obtain a warrant before they can search an arrestee’s cell phone.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the Court, noting that cell phones play an integral role in our daily lives. He pointed out that cell phones are “such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy.” The Court concluded that cell phone content must be protected from warrantless government invasion, because “once an officer has secured a phone and eliminated any potential physical threats . . . data on the phone can endanger no one.”
Implications of Riley v. California
What does the Court’s decision mean for you? If you are arrested in Illinois and the police seize your phone, they cannot browse your contacts, call up your email or peruse any of the information contained within the device without a search warrant. Any evidence gleaned from an illegal cell phone search cannot be used against you in a court of law. It is also possible that the Court’s ruling will be broadly applied to tablets, laptops, and other electronic devices found on your person at the time of arrest. Moreover, the ruling could potentially be applied to homes, businesses, and third parties like phone companies.
While the breadth of the ruling is not yet known, the immediate implications are clear: The police must obtain a search warrant before they can search the contents of your cell phone.
General Information About Search Warrants
Before the police can obtain a search warrant, they must (1) demonstrate probable cause of criminal activity and (2) particularly describe the place or person (or both) to be searched and the things to be seized. How can this be applied to the contents of your cell phone? For example, if you have been arrested for fraud, the police might have enough facts to convince a judge that evidence of fraud can be found in your phone records or text messages.
One important fact to note about search warrants generally: Once a warrant has been issued, it must be acted upon within 96 hours. Otherwise, the warrant is void and cannot be executed. That means if the police obtain a warrant to search your cell phone, but hang onto the warrant for a week before initiating the search, it is too late – they must forfeit the expired warrant to the issuing judge and obtain a new one before they can conduct a legal search.
If you are the victim of an illegal search, you need a criminal defense attorney in Illinois who can prevent illegally obtained evidence from being introduced in court. Contact us today for a consultation. We can assist those in Chicago and the surrounding area.