--- title: Supreme Court Defends Digital Privacy in Cell Phone Case description: The court unanimously embraced rules for warrantless searches of cell phones, and opened the possibility of new definitions of privacy. canonical: https://time.com/2921211/supreme-court-cell-phone-police-search-digital-privacy/ author: Massimo Calabresi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-25T15:20:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:37:00.799Z article:section: Politics og:title: Supreme Court Defends Digital Privacy in Cell Phone Case og:description: The court unanimously embraced rules for warrantless searches of cell phones, and opened the possibility of new definitions of privacy. og:url: https://time.com/2921211/supreme-court-cell-phone-police-search-digital-privacy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Supreme Court Defends Digital Privacy in Cell Phone Case twitter:description: The court unanimously embraced rules for warrantless searches of cell phones, and opened the possibility of new definitions of privacy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Supreme Court Issues Broad Defense of Digital Privacy in Cell Phone Case > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. Jun 25, 2014 3:20 PM UTC  by [Massimo Calabresi](https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/)  ## Massimo Calabresi Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief. Jun 25, 2014 3:20 PM UTC The Supreme Court issued a far-reaching defense of digital privacy in a landmark ruling Wednesday, blocking law enforcement officials from searching cell phones without a warrant at the scene of an arrest or after—except in cases of extraordinary and specific danger, like child abduction or the threat of a terrorist attack. In broad language, Chief Justice John Roberts carved out protections for privacy in the digital age, saying that “more substantial privacy interests are at stake when digital data is involved” than in the past, in part because a cell phone collects “in one place many distinct types of information that reveal much more in combination than any isolated record.” The decision overruled two lower courts and was unanimous. Law enforcement officials are still free to search the immediate area of an arrest to ensure their safety and protect evidence without a warrant. Police can also seek a warrant to search a cell phone from an arrested suspect. But the decision is notable because the court has struggled in past cases to define clear and broad rules where digital technology and constitutional rights collided. “There was a real prospect that the Court would split the baby in the cell phone cases,” wrote Tom Goldstein, a member of the Supreme Court bar, on his website, SCOTUSBlog, in the wake of the ruling. “But the Court instead articulated a bright line rule that is much clearer and will be much easier to administer in practice.” The language used by Roberts regarding the ability of cell phones to collect vast amounts of information in one place will encourage those who believe that Americans have greater expectations of privacy from government intrusion for the vast amounts of digital data they produce every day. “The broad language in today’s opinion in protecting digital privacy may prove significant for NSA surveillance,” wrote Goldstein. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2921211/supreme-court-cell-phone-police-search-digital-privacy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2921211/supreme-court-cell-phone-police-search-digital-privacy/"},"headline":"Supreme Court Issues Broad Defense of Digital Privacy in Cell Phone Case","datePublished":"2014-06-25T15:20:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:37:00.799Z","description":"A landmark ruling","url":"https://time.com/2921211/supreme-court-cell-phone-police-search-digital-privacy/","keywords":["Courts","Supreme Court","cell phones","Constitution"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Massimo Calabresi","jobTitle":"Calabresi is TIME’s Washington bureau chief.","url":"https://time.com/author/massimo-calabresi/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/courts/","name":"Courts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2921211/supreme-court-cell-phone-police-search-digital-privacy/","name":"Supreme Court Issues Broad Defense of Digital Privacy in Cell Phone Case"}}]}] ```