Ohio Supreme Court Requires Warrant to Search Cell Phones: At How Appealing, Howard Bashman rounds up today's coverage of the Ohio Supreme Court's decision in State v. Smith. The 4-3 ruling holds that warrantless search of a cellphone's data is prohibited under the Fourth Amendment unless the search is necessary to protect the safety of law enforcement officers and there are no exigent circumstances. According to the Ohio Supreme Court's press release the Fourth Amendment prohibits searches of phones "seized from its owner in the course of a lawful arrest." In its decision, the majority noted that with regard to a person's reasonable expectation of privacy "cell phones defy easy categorization." It reasoned that because cell phones are able to store large amounts of private data, users had a justifiable expectation of a higher level of privacy in the information cell phones contain. For that reason, once seized, "police must then obtain a warrant before intruding into the phone's contents."
Will the October 2009 Term Be a Criminal Justice Term to Remember?: Doug Berman, at Sentencing Law and Policy, thinks so. Today, he posts that after the Supreme Court added three more criminal justice cases to its docket yesterday the biggest stories for the Term will involve criminal justice issues. He writes that many of the cases involve challenging and important issues "that seem unlikely to be resolved through the 'traditional' right/left splits among the Justices." Berman also comments that the Court's focus on criminal justice cases could be attributed, in part, to the addition of Justice Sotomayor. He believes that with two former-prosecutors sitting on the Court (Justices Alito and Sotomayor) the Court is more likely to understand the importance of taking up more criminal justice issues with day-to-day importance.
D.C. Murder Convict Released, But Not Exonerated: At Blog of Legal Times, Jordan Weissmann reports that District of Columbia Senior Judge Fred Ugast ordered the release of Donald Gates after new DNA evidence showed he may have been wrongly convicted. Gates was found guilty of raping and murdering a Georgetown University student nearly 28 years ago. Last week, the D.C. Public Defender Service filed a motion asking Ugast to exonerate Gates based on a laboratory finding that the DNA of semen found inside the victim after the crime did not match Gates' genetic code. Today, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Draper asked that her office be allowed an opportunity to "double check" whether those samples were in fact from Gates and the victim. Senior Judge Ugast ordered the release of Gates, but will wait to formally overturn his conviction. This will give prosecutors one week to try to conduct a last round of DNA testing. More information on the case can be found here.
Justice Napolitano?: At NRO's Bench Memos, Jonathan Adler links to Tim Graham's post discussing speculation that Janet Napolitano will be the next Cabinet official to leave the White House so that she can serve on the Supreme Court. Speculation came from NBC reporter Chuck Todd who told Laura Ingraham that Napolitano would be the President's next pick because "Personally, he likes her probably more than any other cabinet secretary outside of [Robert] Gates on a personal comfort zone. She almost got it the last time. I think he's determined to put somebody who's actually run for elective office on the Supreme Court."
Will the October 2009 Term Be a Criminal Justice Term to Remember?: Doug Berman, at Sentencing Law and Policy, thinks so. Today, he posts that after the Supreme Court added three more criminal justice cases to its docket yesterday the biggest stories for the Term will involve criminal justice issues. He writes that many of the cases involve challenging and important issues "that seem unlikely to be resolved through the 'traditional' right/left splits among the Justices." Berman also comments that the Court's focus on criminal justice cases could be attributed, in part, to the addition of Justice Sotomayor. He believes that with two former-prosecutors sitting on the Court (Justices Alito and Sotomayor) the Court is more likely to understand the importance of taking up more criminal justice issues with day-to-day importance.
D.C. Murder Convict Released, But Not Exonerated: At Blog of Legal Times, Jordan Weissmann reports that District of Columbia Senior Judge Fred Ugast ordered the release of Donald Gates after new DNA evidence showed he may have been wrongly convicted. Gates was found guilty of raping and murdering a Georgetown University student nearly 28 years ago. Last week, the D.C. Public Defender Service filed a motion asking Ugast to exonerate Gates based on a laboratory finding that the DNA of semen found inside the victim after the crime did not match Gates' genetic code. Today, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Draper asked that her office be allowed an opportunity to "double check" whether those samples were in fact from Gates and the victim. Senior Judge Ugast ordered the release of Gates, but will wait to formally overturn his conviction. This will give prosecutors one week to try to conduct a last round of DNA testing. More information on the case can be found here.
Justice Napolitano?: At NRO's Bench Memos, Jonathan Adler links to Tim Graham's post discussing speculation that Janet Napolitano will be the next Cabinet official to leave the White House so that she can serve on the Supreme Court. Speculation came from NBC reporter Chuck Todd who told Laura Ingraham that Napolitano would be the President's next pick because "Personally, he likes her probably more than any other cabinet secretary outside of [Robert] Gates on a personal comfort zone. She almost got it the last time. I think he's determined to put somebody who's actually run for elective office on the Supreme Court."
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