The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week heard oral argument in two cases involving whether the police, after arresting someone, can search his or her cell phone without a search warrant. Although the police have been allowed to do a limited search of a person after they’ve been arrested, this exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement was never intended to cover the massive amounts of sensitive information on a cell phone. But as the oral arguments made clear, the government is relying on dangerous misconceptions about cell phone technology in an attempt to justify a significant privacy intrusion.

The Issues Before the Supreme Court

When it comes to searching the most sensitive part of our bodies—our DNA—the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures should be a strong bulwark, keeping the government out of our most personal and private biological information. But in the last few years, those protections have been eroded as courts throughout the country, including the US Supreme Court, have approved of the warrantless DNA collection of people arrested for crimes—individuals who are presumed to be innocent in the eyes of the law. A new amicus brief we filed on Monday argues that these decisions don't mean the complete death of Fourth Amendment protection from DNA collection.