The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday that police may not search the cellphone, tablet computer or other personal digital device of an arrested person without first obtaining a warrant, reports Adam Liptak for the New York Times. Two years ago Governor Brown vetoed legislation by Senator Mark Leno that would have had the same effect. The bill was felt necessary by both First Amendment and privacy advocates as a corrective to a California Supreme Court decision holding that warrantless searches of the devices of arrested persons were not unconstitutional. That case relied on U.S. Supreme Court precedents that the court yesterday found to be inapplicable to smartphones and other portable digital storage and communication technology which could store vast amounts of private and confidential information, and which could neither contain or be used as a weapon against arresting officers.
