Supreme Court rules warrant needed to search cell phones.

[PennyQuilts]

Do you realize many cases involving the request for a warrant are 'iffy' at best to begin with. The entire need for the warrant was to try and get some evidence of a crime. A great many of the warrants I read are simply based on allegations, theories, suspicions. That's pretty 'iffy' in my book.

At least subject to scrutiny on appeal. You are talking practicalities as they existed, yesterday. Seems to me, this ruling places a bright line between law enforcement and cell phone contents. I predict law enforcement and DA's will be a little more anal after this now that a unanimous court has taken such a firm stand. They were signaling law enforcement and I expect the message will come through loud and clear. It is one thing to play fast and loose with something you aren't sure is strongly protected. It is another thing following this kind of ruling.

[Midtowner]

Do you realize many cases involving the request for a warrant are 'iffy' at best to begin with. The entire need for the warrant was to try and get some evidence of a crime. A great many of the warrants I read are simply based on allegations, theories, suspicions. That's pretty 'iffy' in my book.

The law only requires that the suspicion is "reasonable." Now if you get the LEO on the stand and he can't come up with something that sounds reasonable (mind you, this is after the defendant was searched according to that suspicion and caught with incriminating evidence, which pretty much confirms any suspicion as true), then the exclusionary rule comes into play. That, however, is VERY rare. Defense attorneys who have succeeded in excluding critical evidence at a preliminary hearing or on a Motion to Limine are not in plentiful supply, and those who have sock said experiences away as war stories where they were pretty awesome, all things considered.

[zookeeper]

Brian is right about easy-to-get warrants. So many of the judges in Oklahoma County are former Assistants in the office of the DA. I don't like that at all and it's not where the big numbers of our judges should be coming from. This is all public business, Brian...when you said, "depending on the judge," could you name a few who (in your opinion) give in to law enforcement too easily and those who, you know, actually want some reasonable cause for suspicion?

[Dennis Heaton]

Brian is right about easy-to-get warrants. So many of the judges in Oklahoma County are former Assistants in the office of the DA. I don't like that at all and it's not where the big numbers of our judges should be coming from. This is all public business, Brian...when you said, "depending on the judge," could you name a few who (in your opinion) give in to law enforcement too easily and those who, you know, actually want some reasonable cause for suspicion?

I can think of "one." But, I ain't gonna step into that pile of do-do...No Sir!

[rezman]

No questiion the cops are going to do that. Is this the be all to end all?,... nope. But its a step in the right direction to help protect the average citizen from prying law enforcement. Cops play on the chance that a person doesn't know their rights and are just going roll over for them. If you don't know your rights and unwhittingly give them up, the cop has no control over that and is going to take full advantage of it, so hell yeah, make them work for it.

If you're arrested, they impound your immediate possesions,... wallet, keys, cell phone, etc. By then it's game over anyway. No question they will get their warrant, even if they've already gone through your phone when you weren't looking.

[MustangGT]

Getting the warrant is no big deal. The LEO's will get the warrant and the shysters of the local defense bar are not educated enough to beat it the vast majority of the time.

[kevinpate]

Dig at my profession aside, it's actually not a bad thing that most police action isn't overturned.
Contemplate for a spell what one's daily life might be like if the conduct of police were so egregious the vast majority of their actions were ruled to be constitutional violations.