The Cell Phone Search Cases - An Update
by: Bronson James • March 11, 2014 • no comments
The USSCt granted review in two cell phone search cases: Riley v. California, and U.S. V. Wurie. The opening brief in Riley has been filed, as well as the DOJ brief in Wurie. Today is the day for amicus filings. Here is a copy of the brief I filed for NACDL and the Brennan Center for Justice. This brief has all the material you will need to cut and paste into a motion to preserve the issues.
The feds are taking some unusual positions in Wurie. First, they are saying that a full exploratory search of a cell phone is always permitted incident to arrest, without limit. But then, inexplicably, they propose that a search of local data on the phone is permitted, but concede that data stored off-site but viewable through the phone, is not permitted. They offer no explanation as to how Officer Friendly is supposed to make that distinction in the field. Finally, they offer a third suggestion of grafting the Arizona v. Gant rule from the vehicle context onto cellphones, meaning you can only search evidence relating to the crime of arrest. That too is unworkable because (1) you will always be able to tie data to virtually any crime, and (2) again how is Officer Friendly supposed to know in the field which apps have which data? All of these arguments are addressed in the attached brief.
Oral argument in the supreme court is set for late April.
