We posted here last summer about a recent First Circuit opinion which invalidated a warrantless, incident to arrest, search of a defendant's cellphone. Entitled "Setting the Stage for Supreme Court Review," the post discussed the varying opinions of appeals courts applying a Fourth Amendment which has been adapted uneasily to new technologies, and we predicted that the Supreme Court would soon take up the matter.
Indeed it will. The Washington Post reported on January 17th that the Court will take up the First Circuit case, and seek to resolve disputes among multiple courts of appeal regarding access to cellphone data. The decision rendered by the Court is not likely to apply only to cellphones, but is expected to lay down benchmarks for the consideration of searches of other data storage media, in what promises to be the most important Foruth Amendment decision by the high court in years.
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