, Columnist
Don't Let the Feds Rummage Through Cell Phones
The police have good reason to want to be able to check mobile phones. But there need to be limits.
This article is for subscribers only.
During this week's Supreme Court arguments about the legality of mobile-phone searches by police officers, the justices were searching for a compromise. Because criminals use mobile phones, police want to know whether an arrestee has just texted for backup. Warrant requirements delaying that would feel burdensome.
At the same time, because a complete dossier of our lives is accessible by way of a phone, failing to have any judicial oversight of wide-ranging police access to them -- even at the time of arrest -- would be wrong.