In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that police cannot search the cellphone of a person under arrest without obtaining a warrant.
The Wednesday ruling specifies that the 4th Amendment guarantees the public protection from "unreasonable searches and seizures" carried out by law enforcement, the Los Angeles Times reported. Therefore, police do not have the right to inspect cellphones obtained when someone is arrested unless they have a warrant.
"Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote according to MSNBC. "The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought."
The court made the ruling on the basis of two cases brought in Massachusetts and California on behalf of plaintiffs who had their cellphones searched for information that was later used to connect them to crimes.
In one case, plaintiff David Riley's Samsung smartphone was seized after he was pulled over by San Diego police for having expired tags on his car in 2009, the LA Times reported.
Riley was arrested and charged with attempted murder after police found photos on his phone showing he was affiliated with a gang. Another photo was of an Oldsmobile that was used in a drive by shooting.
Riley, who was sentenced to 15 years to life, claimed his right to privacy was violated when police searched his phone. But authorities argued that cellphones can be instrumental in closing cases. The California Supreme Court decided in Riley's favor.
That ruling was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching the cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple- get a warrant," Roberts wrote.
However, the court ruled that police can search a cellphone without a warrant under "exigent circumstances," meaning if a life is in danger or evidence on the phone could be destroyed.
Chief Justice Roberts noted that searching modern day cellphones, which can store enormous amounts of data, "would typically expose the government far more than the most exhaustive search of a house."
Cellphones "are now 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," Roberts joked.
