The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that cellphones are to be protected from warrantless police searches in the same way an American’s home might be.
The ruling beats to the punch part of a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution that voters will consider in August. In the spring, state legislators approved the ballot measure that asks voters to change the constitution to include a person’s electronic communication and data under the protections afforded by the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
State Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, who sponsored the Missouri amendment, said in an interview that Wednesday’s ruling “did a lot of the work we wanted done with Amendment 9,” but that it did not go far enough. Chief Justice John Roberts’ ruling was specific to searches of cellphones that are confiscated when someone is arrested (known as “incident to an arrest.”)
“(The ruling) doesn’t go as far as Amendment 9,” Schaaf said. “Amendment 9 would cover things other than cellphones, laptops and communications. It (the high court ruling) only covers cellphones.”
Amendment 9 asks voters: “Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended so that the people shall be secure in their electronic communications and data from unreasonable searches and seizure as they are now likewise secure in their persons, homes, papers and effects?” That language extends much further than merely cellphones.
“The Missouri ballot measure is more expansive, protecting all electronic communications from unreasonable searches and seizures,” said Justin Dyer, a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia who has studied the Bill of Rights in-depth.
“State law in this area moves along a separate track from federal law, and in the future state courts could interpret the Missouri Constitution — assuming the ballot measure passes — to offer more protections to electronic communications than the federal Constitution under current federal case law.”
While the Fourth Amendment, which was extended in Wednesday’s ruling, provides minimum standards for what constitutes a reasonable search, “nothing prevents the state” from extending that, Dyer said.
“Depending on how things develop at the federal and state levels, the effort wouldn’t necessarily be pointless,” he said.
Schaaf, who is campaigning for passage of the amendment, said he hopes Wednesday’s ruling will help build some momentum behind his effort.
“I hope that some people will not think that because the Supreme Court acted, we don’t have to,” he said. “I would think that it would be better to look at it as we have to act and the Supreme Court affirms that we have to act.”
The issue will go before Missouri voters on Aug. 5 along with four other statewide questions. The other ballot issues would strengthen the Second Amendment right to bear arms; ingrain a “right to farm” in the Missouri Constitution; create a veterans’ lottery ticket; and levy a three-quarter-cent sales tax for transportation projects. Absentee voting began Tuesday.