Tagged: closed container

Warrantless Cellphone Search Decision: Resources

Last week, on June 25, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Riley v. California, a decision combining California and Massachusetts cases challenging the warrantless search an arrestee’s cellphone incident to arrest. The Court unanimously concluded that the police are not entitled to search a cell phone incident to arrest without a warrant, absent exigent circumstance, and as such must seek a properly executed warrant to search a cellphone.  This decision was almost instantaneously covered by a number of newspapers, reporters, and bloggers, and we bring you a short compilation of some of the online coverage.

The U.S. Supreme Court Decisions

Pre-Decision Coverage

Post-Decision Newspaper Articles & Blog Posts

Click here, to explore recent (2014 on) scholarly articles on the subject.

Search of Closed Containers Incident to Arrest: Is a Cell Phone Just Another Container? by Thomas Kapp

The Pace Criminal Justice Center is honored to feature an article by Thomas Kapp,  Search of Closed Containers Incident to Arrest: Is a Cell Phone Just Another Container?  Thomas Kapp is the Senior Investigative Attorney at the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office and a member of the Pace Criminal Justice Center Advisory Board. In his article, he

review[s] the current federal standard for a search incident to arrest of containers and how some federal and other state courts have addressed the search of a cell phone.  In addition, [he] discusses the development of the law in New York of the right of police to conduct a search incident to arrest of a closed container and will also address whether that right includes the search of a cell phone incident to arrest, an issue which may be ripe for our courts.

As the article notes, this issue will be decided this term by the United States Supreme Court.  Mr. Kapp concludes his analysis by assessing the future of searches of cell phones incident to arrest in the State of New York.

Enjoy reading the full article: Thomas Kapp – Search of Closed Containers Incident to Arrest: Is a Cell Phone Just Another Container?